


break your heart (some kind of idiot at the start)

by sarcastic_fina



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst and Humor, BAMF Darcy Lewis, F/M, Female Friendship, Insecurity, Male-Female Friendship, Personal Growth, Possibly Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-06-18 16:33:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 55,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15490068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcastic_fina/pseuds/sarcastic_fina
Summary: When Darcy and Steve strike up an unexpected friendship, she finds herself hoping it might lead somewhere romantic. But Steve Rogers seems to have his eye on someone else and Darcy, well, it looks like her heart might just be an unfortunate bystander.





	1. Chapter 1

**i.**

Darcy had just convinced Jane to get catch a quick nap on their beat-up couch after cajoling her into having a sandwich and a whole glass of milk when the lab doors whooshed open and she was faced with none other than Captain "call me Steve" Rogers. He was fidgeting, his eyes darting, and Darcy cocked her head curiously. She could count how many times she and the good Captain had spoken on three fingers, and the first was a 30-second introduction from Thor.

"Are you lost or were you looking for something in particular?"

He cleared his throat, and Darcy could  _see_ the moment he put a lid on the less-than-put-together version of himself she'd just witnessed. With a nod, he said, "Miss Lewis."

Her mouth hitched up at the corner. "Cap."

His eye twitched. "Call me Steve."

"Steve then." She walked toward him, glancing quickly at Jane to make sure her favorite scientist was still peacefully asleep. "Question still stands."

He paused, gaze falling away as if he was trying to remember her question. Before she could repeat it, he tilted his chin up. "Not lost, no." He glanced at the glass walls that surrounded the lab, looking out on the hallway, and then back. "I, uh, I was actually hoping to talk to you."

"Me?" She raised an eyebrow. "If you're about to fire me, I'm gonna have to wake up Jane, and she's crabby after her noon o'clock nap."

He blinked. "What? No! No, that's not. Um…" He shifted his feet. "I just wanted to check in with you about… lab safety."

"Lab safety?" she repeated.

"Yes." He nodded. "I wanted to be sure that everything was…  _safe_ … here."

She bit her lip to hide her growing amusement. "In the lab?"

"Mm-hmm, exactly." He widened his stance, wrapping a hand over his opposite wrist, seemed to rethink that, and then tried to loosen up. "Would you… I mean, do you have a plan or… anything in place?"

"When Jane sets things on fire, I use the fire extinguisher." She pointed to the box that no longer held the silly 'break in case of emergency' glass cover because, well, she'd broken it a few months ago, and then again a week after. Really, she didn't have time to be breaking glass every time Jane set something alight. "I find it's better to just anticipate havoc and pre-empt it."

"Pre-empt it how?"

She waved a hand to a sleeping Jane. "A tired Jane is a hazard. Once I get her on a schedule with regular food and nap breaks, she's a well-oiled machine. But if she isn't, she becomes a holy terror with too much brains, power, and access to sciencey wormhole things."

He let out a laugh. "Is that the scientific term for what she does?"

Darcy nodded. "The  _most_ scientific."

Half-smiling, he nodded. "Okay, well. That's good. I mean, the pre-emptive planning is good. Not the wormholes." He winced. "I'd like to avoid those."

"You and me both."

Steve cleared his throat then. "I, uh, I'll let you get back to your… pre-empting." He motioned to the door, hesitated, and then abruptly turned on his heel and left.

Darcy watched him go.

That was weird, she decided. But she would take a flustered, awkward Steve over the disapproving Chin of Justice she'd often seen facing off with Tony in his labs.

* * *

**…**

* * *

Darcy didn't see Steve again for a little over a week. Well, she'd seen him passing. He nodded at her in the halls and once, she even got a little hand-wave when they were a few people apart in the cafeteria line. She could see him mentally face-palming after that one though. The history books always left out how much of an awkward human bean he was. She kind of liked it.

Which was maybe the worst thing. Just a little. Because having a crush on anyone always made things weird. Having a crush on an untouchable staple of America was painfully dumb. So, Darcy resolved to just…  _not_.

And then he showed back up in the lab. This time with a cup of coffee.

"I hope that's not for Jane." She pursed her lips. "She's on a decaf diet until she learns not to stick metal things into electric things."

Steve looked down at the cup and then back to her. "Uh, no. I thought…" He glanced at Jane, then the clock. "I thought she'd be napping. Figured you could use some energy yourself."

" _Oh_. That was sweet." Darcy reached out and accepted the cup. She took one deep gulp, hummed to herself in unadulterated pleasure, and then let her eyes blink open, slow and happy. She caught a look at Steve's face, which was both amused and slightly befuddled. "Coffee and I have a tender relationship, Cap." She pointed a thumb in Jane's direction. "Anyway, no nap today because it's date night."

"Date… night…?" He looked between them. "So, you two are… I mean, you're…"

Darcy stared at him.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that! Of course not. I go to Pride every year." He winced. "This is coming out wrong…"

"Oh, put him out of his misery, Darce," Jane told her.

Darcy laughed under her breath. "Jane has a date with destiny… and also some guy named Ted. Nothing screams romance like the name ' _Ted_.'"

"He's a perfectly nice man," Jane defended. "Who spends every day right here on Earth and won't disappear for years at a time because a nightmare told him to."

Darcy rolled her eyes, staring at the ceiling. "A nightmare that turned out to be a prophetic dream."

"Semantics."

Steve suddenly snapped his fingers. "She used to date Thor! I remember now. He talked about her all the time."

Silence answered for one heavy beat. Then—

"He talked about me?"

Jane's voice was soft, thick with an emotion that Darcy knew Jane had tried to hide and bury for quite some time.

Darcy winced and whirled to face her friend. "Jane…"

Leaving her workstation, Jane made her way over, staring up at Steve seriously. "What'd he say?"

"Uh…" Steve looked from Jane to Darcy and back. Finally, with a sigh, he half-smiled and told her, "All good things. He was… Well, to tell you the truth, he was always boasting about you. Said you were the smartest person around. He was very proud of you, Doctor Foster."

Jane made a strangled noise and then fled back to her station.

Darcy stared after her, frowning to herself. When she looked back, Steve winced apologetically.

"I didn't mean to upset her."

"It's okay. They need to work through it… Which would be easier if he'd stick around longer than a few minutes." She shrugged. "I can't tell if he's really that busy or if he's just scared to slow down long enough for them to really lay their cards on the table."

"I heard they broke up. At least, I knew Thor and his girlfriend broke up, I kind of forgot it was her."

Darcy's mouth tilted up, amused. "Yeah, I picked up on that when you thought she and I were dating."

A pink flush filled his cheeks.

"So, other than bringing me coffee and causing romantic tension, why'd you drop by today?"

"Oh. Right. Um…" Steve glanced at the glass walls and Darcy found her own gaze wandering in that direction. Maybe he didn't like the fishbowl affect it could have. It weirded her out in the beginning too. But apparently it was for safety reasons. So those walking by could make sure nobody was building a bomb and for those on the inside to stay aware of any infiltration attempts. Darcy thought FRIDAY did a pretty good job of that, but she was apparently pretty early in her construction and not up to par with JARVIS's previous system. As Tony put it, she was still learning, and it'd take time to reach JARVIS levels of accomplishment.

Steve cleared his throat, drawing her eye again. "I felt bad about last week. Showing up out of the blue and questioning your safety plan. I know you were hired on as a lab manager, so you obviously know what you're doing. And you've been with Doctor Foster for some time, so you've got her handled by now."

Darcy raised her coffee in cheers. "She still surprises me sometimes, but I like to think I have her mostly figured out." She leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, "She's gotten good at faking her naps. That's when I really have to be on guard."

Steve ducked his head and grinned. "Mad scientists."

Darcy nodded. "All you can do is hope to survive the crazy some days." She sipped at her coffee. "Anyway, thanks for this. It does help. Janey's leaving early today, but the morning was still pretty rough. Tony's robots dropped by and… let's just say their help is more hassle than it's worth."

"I know the feeling." He stared at her a beat and then took a step back. "I'll leave you to it. Have a good afternoon, Miss Lewis."

"Darcy," she corrected.

He nodded. "Darcy."

He backed up until he reached the doors and then turned on his heel to leave.

Watching him go, she bit her lip. That shoulder to waist ratio was ridiculous.

* * *

**…**

* * *

Over the next couple weeks, Steve would appear at random.

Darcy looked up from where she was scrolling through her daily 'to do' list on her tablet, walking down the main hall of Level Three, surrounded by glass walls and  _science_. Steve had fallen into step beside her. He didn't have a cup of coffee for her today. She wasn't terribly upset about that. The coffee on base, at least when she wasn't stealing it from Tony's lab, was mediocre for the most part. Still, she appreciated the gesture.

Clearing his throat, Steve took a quick look around, and then focused on her. "I have a few things that need your signature."

"Oh. Really?" Her brow furrowed. "Usually Maria or Pepper just email me things like that. Or, if it's a hardcopy, drop it off in my office."

"You have an office?" He paused, mumbling under his breath, "Of course you have an office, you're a lab manager."

Darcy smothered a grin. "I do, but I prefer hanging out in Jane's lab. Still, there's an office with a shiny nameplate, a fake plant, and a bay window. It looks out on the track field." She winked at him. "Not a terrible view."

Steve huffed a laugh and ducked his gaze a moment. "I'll keep an eye out for your office next time."

"Don't worry about it. It's mostly just a desk for dropping off mail anyway." She held a hand out. "What do I need to sign?"

"Uh, nothing special. Just some general housekeeping paperwork." He passed it to her. "There's some safety measures that we're going over. Maria's planning on having a meeting to see what else we can put into action that'll… what'd you call it? Pre-empt, right?" He nodded. "When it comes to things in-house, a lot of us are out of touch about the day-to-day needs of the staff. That's why we hired people to manage certain areas. But if there's any way we can make that job easier, then we'd like to know about it."

Darcy hummed and stared down at the paper. "Okay, well, an override for FRIDAY would be great. Generally, when I tell her something, she listens, but if it has to do with Tony… Let's just say he's not always the most cooperative person when it comes to kicking him out of his own lab. If you're worried, I promise to be a benevolent queen when FRIDAY and I take over the world together."

"That's reassuring." His mouth twitched. "An override makes sense. I can talk to Maria and Pepper about it."

"Cool, and I can make sure to record any time I've had to wield my power with righteous fury. There's no reason to keep it on the DL anyway. You guys should probably know when a rogue Stark had been kicked out of his funhouse."

"Uh… yeah. No reason at all."

She looked up at him, amused. "Steve, do you know what DL means?"

He grimaced. "I can probably figure it out."

Folding her lips to hide a smile, she said, "Okay."

His brows hiked. "You're not going to correct me?" He sighed. "Or text me a link to Urban Dictionary?"

Darcy shrugged. "If you want to know something, you're a big boy. You can just ask."

He stared at her a beat. "I… Yeah. I can."

"Cool." She motioned to the papers. "I'll read this on my lunch. I have a few things to do first. But I'll get them back to you."

"Yeah, okay. Whenever you get a chance."

She motioned a thumb toward a lab on her right. "This is me."

"Oh, right. Uh, have a good morning." He offered her a stilted nod and then hurried ahead.

Darcy smiled to herself. Still so awkward, and oh so handsome. With a shake of her head, she turned her attention to the lab. "All right, Risha. I have some questions about how you and your minions went through so many latex gloves, and the answer better not be that you fill them with water and throw them at the guys in Lab Eight. I already told you not to bring the office supplies into your little science war…"

* * *

**…**

* * *

After a couple more visits from Steve— sometimes with mostly unnecessary paperwork, other time with coffee— Darcy wondered if it was the beginning of an awkward work friendship that would never leave the third floor. But then he found her in the common room, very much located on the main floor. Cutthroat Kitchen was playing in the background while she sat tucked in the corner of a couch, knitting an infinity scarf for Jane. She never said she was cold, but she was such a tiny thing that she always needed warming up. And sure, they could turn the heat up in the lab, but with all windows for walls, the heat never stuck around as long as it should.

"I think I've seen this before."

Darcy jumped and looked up, up, up. Steve was standing behind the couch, hands braced against the back. "Cutthroat Kitchen? It's kind of my favorite cooking show."

"Really?" He smiled, an eyebrow arched. "You were just muttering under your breath and I think I heard a few choice words thrown in there."

Darcy rolled her eyes. "That's a given. Nothing will frustrate you more than watching Cutthroat Kitchen and finding out who actually wins in the end. Hint, it's almost never a woman, and it's usually the asshole that doesn't deserve it."

Circling the couch, Steve took a seat. Not close to her, but not exactly far either. "How do you know he doesn't deserve it if you can't taste it?"

"I have eyes. And ears. You'll hear the judge tell him all the ways his dish could've been better and yet  _still_ , somehow, he walks away the winner. Meanwhile, other cooks get booted for smaller mistakes."

"You sound pretty invested."

She jutted her chin out and then grabbed up the remote, raising the volume before she pointed it at him. "Watch and learn."

Forty minutes later, Steve was lathered up into a righteous anger. "What!? How did he win? That's not even a cookie. The whole challenge was to make a—" He let out a frustrated noise and ran a hand through his hair.

Darcy grinned at him in a way that she could only assume was manic. " _See!_ "

He looked back at her, blinked, and then snorted. "All right, okay. I get what you mean."

"Thank you." She let her smile become something a little less crazy and said, "There's another episode after this. You wanna watch it?"

He hesitated before— "Yeah, sure. I can do that." He checked the watch on his wrist. "I don't have to be in the gym for another hour anyway."

Darcy hummed and turned her gaze to the TV, trying to drown out the way her brain immediately started thinking of him in sweaty work-out gear.

* * *

**…**

* * *

When Steve started showing up around the same time each Sunday, it became their unofficial Cutthroat Kitchen day. Due to pretty hectic schedules, Darcy just set the show to record. That way, on the weeks that he was away on a mission, she would let them stack up and they would marathon it when he got back. Thus, there was an unspoken 'dibs' on the common room TV each Sunday.

It was a friendly thing.

Totally friendly.

Which was why Darcy was trying very hard not to read into it beyond that.

Like how Steve kept showing up to the lab, always when he thought Jane would be down for a nap. Or how he lingered by the doors to the cafeteria sometimes, so they could go through the line together. Or when he dropped by the lab on a Friday night— when he knew Jane would be on her date with Ted and Darcy would be catching up on collating data— with a bag of take-out and a lame excuse about ordering too much. These were all totally friendly things to do.

So, no, she was totally  _not_  reading into the way her heart squeezed when he stared down at the broken chopsticks in his hand, the second pair he'd snapped in half, with an adorably morose expression. Stifling her laugh, she waved a finger at him in a 'wait here' gesture, left the lab, dropped by Bruce's, and returned with a pair of sturdier chop sticks. "You might have better luck with these. If the Hulk hasn't broken them, you probably won't."

Steve grinned at her. "Thanks, Darce." He dug into his pad thai with gusto and let out a truly unfair moan of appreciation.

Darcy wiggled in her seat and dropped her gaze to her own food. "So, Bucky didn't want to share?"

Steve looked up at her, his eyes wide. "Uh… He's not a fan of… this."

"He doesn't like Thai food?"

He blinked. "Hates it."

"Huh. Okay." She shrugged. "More for me, I guess."

Steve moved his chopsticks around his dish, looking distracted.

Darcy watched him a moment. "Is he okay?"

"Huh? Who?"

"Bucky," she clarified. "Can't say I see that look on your face much unless it has to do with him. I know Stark said Shuri and all of Wakanda's smartest got his head straight, but… That's a lot of PTSD to work through."

"Yeah. He's doing better. He's coping anyway. It's going to take a while before he's… I don't know if 'healed' is the right word. Sam keeps telling me that I can't expect Buck to be who he was. That after everything that happened, he's going to change." He shook his head. "We all do and have. I'm not the same guy who joined the ARMY or crashed that plane or took down the helicarriers… Sometimes, I wish I was. I wish I could be that guy again. Even when I was just some scrappy little back-alley brawler."

"Minus the 'little' part, you  _are_  still a scrappy back-alley brawler."

He snorted. "I can be, sometimes."

Darcy half-smiled. "Have you ever told him?"

"Told him what?"

"That it's okay if he isn't who he was. That you don't always feel like you are either."

Steve's brow furrowed. "Not in so many words, no."

"Maybe you should try." Darcy shrugged. "Sometimes we don't say things because we think people will just know. Miscommunication is kind of the biggest troll in life, and every romantic comedy ever."

He laughed. "I'm not sure me and Buck are romantic comedy material."

"No." She smirked. "You guys are probably more of a historical romance."

Steve sent a flat look, but she could see the way his mouth was twitching, so she wasn't taking it at face value.

"You know, I heard Johnny Storm is interested in acting…"

He blinked, confused by her subject change.

Darcy smirked. "Maybe he could play you in the Lifetime movie of your century-long love affair."

With a roll of his eyes, he said, "Okay, he doesn't look anything like me! Seriously, I  _don't_  see it."

Darcy's head tumbled back as she laughed. When she looked up, he was smiling, a warmth to his face that nearly made her breath catch.

Oh yeah, her feelings were  _super_  friendly…

* * *

**…**

* * *

Take-out Friday was definitely a thing now. Jane would go on her date and Darcy would stay back. Lingering over her work, waiting on Steve to show up with food. The first couple of times, he had an excuse. Now, he didn't even bother.

It was nice. Really nice, actually. Kind of, maybe, the best part of Darcy's week. Except for that one Taco Tuesday where half the compound was away on a mission and she had the whole damn taco buffet all to herself. And even then, she probably would've taken Steve over unlimited tacos. Which was saying something, really. And right behind Take-Out Friday for her favorite day of the week was Cutthroat Kitchen Sunday.

Steve was a snack guy. Darcy wasn't complaining because he always had enough to share and he had the  _best_ snacks. She had no idea where he was getting them from, because she'd never seen them in the commissary. But come Sunday, when they were three episodes into a Cutthroat marathon, they had a cushion between them, filled with every puffy pastry and sugary snack he could get his hands on.

"Do the cadets know how much junk food you put away?" Darcy wondered, watching him eat a whole Ho-Ho in one savage bite. "Didn't you do a bunch of PSAs about healthy eating?"

He pointed a piece of licorice at her and gave her a stern look, even as his eyes danced with humor. "We don't talk about the PSAs." He dangled the licorice into his mouth and tore off a bite. "And they're not cadets."

Darcy rolled her eyes. "It's either 'cadets' or 'baby Avengers,' pick your poison."

Steve shook his head, his mouth inching up at the corner. "You're a bad influence, Darcy."

"That's ridiculous. I'm the  _best_ influence. I corral some of Earth's brightest minds." She paused. "Now that I think about it, that's a lot of power..."

Humming, he passed her the bag of licorice. "You've handled it so far, no point in second-guessing yourself now."

Darcy plucked two pieces out and bit the ends off one, sticking it into her drink to use as a straw. "True. I guess it's a little late for job insecurity to set in." She looked up to see Steve staring at her makeshift straw. "What?"

"I'm flashing back to that time you put Bugles on your fingers and pretended to be the Wicked Witch of the West."

She made her hand into a claw and said, " _And your little dog, too_."

Steve blinked. "I always wanted a dog."

He looked so absolutely morose that Darcy felt her heart clench. "You seem like the golden retriever type."

"My neighbor had a Jack Terrier. Loved that little jerk. He bit my ankles every single day and I just took it. With my allergies and my asthma, ma never let me get one of my own. Probably couldn't afford to feed another mouth anyway." He half-smiled. "She told me not to play with Frankie too, but I'd just wait for her to leave for work and sneak downstairs."

"I had a cat growing up. She was a giant orange furball. Her name was Sally, but she only answered to 'Butthead.' My fault, probably. She was a great cat. Had her my whole life." Darcy looked away, her stomach twisting into a knot. "She passed away when I left for college. Mom used to say she was waiting for me to go, that she held off as long as she could. She just... She crawled under my bed and she didn't come back out. It was peaceful, I guess."

A hand found hers and wrapped around it, warm and heavy. He didn't say anything. What could he say about a cat he'd never known that had died ages ago? But it was nice, that steady presence beside her,  _anchoring_ her.

With a sniffle, she shook her head and refocused on the TV. "Anyway, my vote is for Cicely. Yeah, her breakfast scramble fell a little flat, but she's been creative. Not like Brent. Everything he makes is boring."

"Cicely's a good pick. But I'm going with Horatio. His plating has been perfect and he's been praised more than any of them."

Darcy gave him a knowing look. "Horatio the guy from Brooklyn?"

He smothered a smile. "Are you suggesting my vote is biased, Miss Lewis?"

She grinned. "I think it's been impacted."

"I can't help it if Brooklyn produces good people."

With a snort, she threw a peanut at him from the bowl teetering on the couch cushion. He blocked it with his free hand, 'cause the other was still folded around hers. She hoped ignoring it meant it would stick around longer. Turning back to the TV, she said, "We'll see."

Brent won. And Darcy threatened to write a strongly worded letter to Alton Brown and The Food Network.

* * *

**…**

* * *

Steve, surprisingly, was a texter. He'd recently figured out how gifs work and she received a steady slew of them throughout the day. Everything from cute dogs to clips from TV shows. He seemed to like using Jim Halpert gifs when he was especially annoyed with one of his teammates or one of the recruits. Sometimes, that was the only way the communicated in a day. No words, just a gif war of sorts.

He was also fond of emoticons, even though he seemed to have no idea what some of their secondary meanings were.

—  _Natasha sent me three egg plants. What does that mean? Should I be putting in an order for groceries?_

— _She just added a devil face. I don't understand..._

Darcy bit her lip on a snort, but then paused, her brow furrowed. —  _kind of depends on the context... what were you talking about?_

There was a long pause before he wrote back. —  _Sam saw and now he's changed my name in his phone to [[ **blond running man** ]] and [[ **egg plant** ]] Help!_

Darcy's head fell back as she cackled, so she sent him three crying-laughing emojis.

 _— [[ **wailing** ]]_  _He told Bucky. Somehow Tony found out too. I have four people sending me egg plant emojis. How do I block people?_

Still laughing, Darcy grinned as a new text arrived from him.

 _— [[ **eye roll** ]]_  _I looked it up. I know what the egg plant means. I need new friends_.

Darcy shook her head. — _idk, i think you're stuck with these ones._

—  _I'm changing Sam's name in my phone to the [[ **pigeon** ]]_

Darcy smirked. —  _if you really wanna annoy stark, his shouldn't make sense. just a random sea creature or something. it'll drive him crazy._

Steve texted back quickly. — _That's devious. I like it. [[ **winky/kiss** ]]_

Darcy bit her lip. He probably had no idea that emoji was a little more flirtatious than the usual wink emoji, but it still made her feel light and floaty.

* * *

**...**

* * *

"He likes you."

Darcy looked up from where she was seated at her desk, absently petting a touch-starved DUM-E hovering at her hip, fresh from staring at a tall coffee cup. It was Starbucks. Steve  _hated_ Starbucks. But he'd braved it just for her. He even made them spell her name right. "Huh?"

Jane rolled her eyes. "Captain America has feelings for you," she said slowly, as if speaking to a toddler.

"No, he doesn't. We're friends. Friends get friends coffee. I made you a whole pot this morning and just about every morning before that and I've never wanted to kiss your face less."

"A— that's rude. If anyone deserves Darcy kisses, it's me. And B— this is not a pot of coffee you just whip together in a few minutes. He physically left the compound, stood in line at a coffee shop he hates, all to get you a drink he knows you love. That's a little beyond friendship, Darce."

"Okay,  _A_ …" Darcy stood from her chair, dropped a sloppy kiss on Jane's forehead, and grinned at her. "And B— I think you're wrong." With a shrug, she retook her seat.

"Darcy…" Jane stared at her. "Why?"

The question was so simple, but its answer was not.

"Steve is a great guy. He's smart and funny and possibly stubborn enough to have his picture replace 'mule' in the dictionary. He's also courageous and handsome and sometimes, when he smiles at me, I forget to breathe.  _But_ , he's also totally out of my league." She held a finger up. "Not my friendship league. That reaches far and wide. But on a romantic scale, he is like a fifteen and I'm a seven on a really good eyeliner day."

Jane scowled. "That's bullshit."

Darcy gasped and covered DUM-E's, well,  _claw_. "Not in front of the children, Jane Foster!"

Rolling her eyes, Jane waved the robot away. With a sad beep, it rolled across the floor, thankfully in the opposite direction of the fire extinguisher. "You're not a seven."

"Wow, really hoping you don't hit me with a five right now or I might need to dig out some Ben and Jerry's and have a good cry."

Jane huffed an exasperated sigh. "You're not a number, Darcy. That scale is stupid and pointless. Yes, Steve is handsome and a superhero and  _blah, blah, blah_. So was Thor, and you and I both know he wasn't perfect. He was flawed and made mistakes and yes, technically Asgardian, but also _human_  in the most basic sense. And so is Steve. He's not untouchable. He's just like you. Just with more muscle than you can shake a stick at."

Darcy grinned up at her. "That was a pretty awesome rant, Boss-lady. I think you touched me in the squishy part of my heart."

"Shut up." Jane whirled around and marched back toward her work table. "Do yourself a favor and kiss his handsome face already."

Darcy glanced at the time and said, "We're switching to decaf, Janey."

Jane gasped. "Judas!"

* * *

**...**

* * *

Okay, so, Darcy was still pretty sure Jane was wrong. So wrong. On every level. But that presented a secondary issue. Which was that Darcy knew even if Steve didn't have feelings for her, she'd definitely caught feelings for him. Which was bad. So bad. Because friendship was good. Friendship was easy. Friendship meant no broken heart.

Which was why, when Tom from HR dropped by the lab and asked her out for dinner Friday night, she almost said yes.

Almost being a very important word.

Just as she was trying to convince herself that this was a good thing, a  _necessary_ thing, two things happened:

 

> 1\. Bucky Barnes— who she had only met once, when he took the last three cupcakes from the commissary and shoved them all in his mouth before she even  _attempted_ to haggle him into letting her have one— walked into her lab with a face that screamed  _murder._

And

 

> 2\. DUM-E sprayed Tom with the fire extinguisher out of literally  _nowhere_. There was no fire. Not even a hint of smoke on the air. In fact, the person who would be causing any fire was calmly sitting at her desk, doing paperwork. So why DUM-E used the fire extinguisher, Darcy would never know.

She did, however, know that Tom had a weak bladder. She knew this because just as he turned away from the spray of the extinguisher, he found himself face to face with Bucky, and promptly pissed on her floor. And then he ran. A cloud of white and ( _ugh_ ) yellow, he ran out of the lab and down the hall.

Darcy watched him go and wondered at how her already infinitesimal dating pool had shrunk so low as to include that. Then again, she imagined many people would lose their bladders at the sight of a murderous Bucky Barnes. Of course, when she turned to look at him, he seemed perfectly pleasant. He even had a cupcake for her.

Darcy plucked it out of his black and gold hand and unwrapped it, giving him the stink-eye all the while. "What's this for?"

"An apology."

"What, you knew Tom would stain my perfectly clean floor just at the sight of you?"

His mouth twitched. "For eating all the cupcakes last month."

Darcy hummed. "All right, apology accepted."

He held out a second cupcake then, and she was starting to get more than a little suspicious.

Her eyes narrowed. "What else did you do?"

He shook his head. "Not me. You."

Her brow furrowed. "Huh?"

"Steve said you talked to him. Got him to talk to me." He shifted back and tucked his arms behind him, his shoulders raised and straight. "Thank you."

It took her a second to realize what he was talking about. It'd been a while since that particular conversation about not being who they used to be. But she was glad it sparked something. "Yeah, no big."

As he turned to walk away, she said, "Hey, quick question… If they were going to make a movie about you and Steve… Who would you cast as Steve?"

He paused, looked back at her, and winked. "I hear Johnny Storm's acting now."

Darcy grinned.  _Oh, she liked him_.

* * *

**…**

* * *

Darcy did not go on a date with Tom. In fact, he never totally made eye contact with her again after that. She did, however, have dinner with Steve that night, and informed him of his best friend's cupcake delivery.

"It was a little random, very unexpected, but not totally unappreciated."

Steve nodded. "Well, I'm glad you got your cupcakes, and sorry about your floor."

Darcy waved dismissively. "DUM-E cleaned it up. And then we were kicked out of the lab so it could be doubly cleaned. On the bright side, it meant Jane got physical exercise. We went for a walk around the compound."

"Happy to hear it wasn't a total waste."

She laughed and dug into her food once more. Italian today. It had to be one of the best lasagnes she'd had in her  _life_.

"I, uh... I'm sorry though, that Bucky interrupted Tom and... I mean, your planning for your... uh... date."

Darcy went still, her fork poised half-way to her mouth. "Oh.  _That_." She scrunched up her nose. "I was kind of leaning more toward a 'no.' But like, a gentle no, you know? Like a soft 'thanks but no.' And then a hard no after he ran away trailing pee. That was... Let's just say it sticks in the mind." She stared at him a moment, but his gaze was on his food. And maybe this was a test. Maybe she was hoping he would be relieved or that he might offer a date instead. Maybe he would realize there was competition and do something about it. Maybe he would prove Jane's theory right. But all he did was stare at his food, his brow furrowed in a knot she was getting all too familiar with. So, Darcy did what she usually did; she leaned on humor to cover up the awkward. "Besides, if I was on a date right now, I wouldn't be here, eating my weight in the best lasagne around."

Steve looked up and smiled. Or attempted to. Whatever that was, it looked like half-smile, half-grimace.

Darcy pieced apart her garlic toast and dipped them in some sauce, spilling out into the tin container. "I should tell Jane about this place. Maybe she and Ted can go some night." She paused. "Ted and Tom. God, Janey and I need to get out of this compound more. Meet people with more than three letters to their name."

A sparkle returned to Steve's eyes. "Thor only has four."

"Maybe that one extra letter makes all the difference."

"Don't stop there, reach for five."

Darcy laughed.

As Steve launched into a story about work— specifically something Tony had done that he should not have done— she tried to quiet the little voice in the back of her mind that whispered,  _'Steve has five letters.'_

* * *

**…**

* * *

"Ted."

A tall, nondescript, brunet with a narrow nose, round chin, and a love for pocket squares, nodded in 'hello.' "Darcy."

"Are those new loafers?"

He glanced down at his footwear. "They are."

She gave him a thumbs up. "Wear what you like, you know?"

His brow furrowed and his mouth fell open, but before he could ask what she meant, Jane walked over. She'd taken to changing in the bathroom instead of returning to her room and Darcy had to wonder if that was a telling decision. While Jane could rarely be pulled away from  _Science!_ even when she had Thor warming her bed, she did seem a little more dedicated to putting effort into their dates. Maybe Jane and Ted had reached a zone of comfort in their relationship where she just didn't have to do that. Where it was okay to just exchange her comfy yoga pants for a pair of recently laundered slacks and her cleanest blouse. Ted didn't seem to be complaining.

"Ready?" Jane fiddled with the latch on her purse, trying to get it to close. "Darcy, is-"

"It's broken. You broke the buckle last year, but you like it too much to throw it away."

Jane pursed her lips. " _Pockets_ ," she muttered under her breath.

"I know." Darcy rolled her eyes. "It's like the cargo shorts of purses."

"Maybe we can have it fixed," Ted offered.

Jane turned an owlish look on him and then nodded. "It's fine for tonight."

"Heard that before." Darcy swiveled her chair side to side and stared at them. "Just keep your hand on it so a pick-pocket doesn't get your wallet, all right?"

Jane rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to be  _pick-pocketed._ "

Darcy stared at her. "Now you've jinxed it."

She sighed. "Darcy..."

"It has been said. You put it out in the universe. There's no taking it back." She stood from her seat and ushered them toward the doors. "Just remember...  _I told you so_."

With a snort, Jane said, " _Thanks_."

"Welcome." She waved at them as the lab doors closed behind them. "Have a good night!"

Ted smiled back and then continued down the hall, but Jane kept looking back.

Darcy pointed at Ted and then down to her feet. She mimicked an old man walking with a cane, her hand on her back and her face dramatically miserable.

Jane shook her head, even as a smile inched up her lips. With a wave of her hand, she turned on her heel and continued walking with Ted. She didn't hook her arm around his and lean up against his side. She simply walked beside him. Not that Jane was particularly into public displays of affection, but she and Thor had been pretty comfortable with each other. With a shake of her head, Darcy told herself not to compare Ted to Thor. It wasn't fair to either of them. They were their own people and they each had their own relationships with Jane. Still, she couldn't help thinking Jane just seemed...  _happier_ with Thor. Unfortunately, knowing that did nothing to change Jane's present relationship status. So, she just filed it away in her head and let it be.

* * *

**…**

* * *

Darcy stared at the black and gold hand outstretched toward her. "What's that?"

"Coffee." Bucky grimaced. "With whipped cream."

Her gaze narrowed as she reached out and took the cup. "I didn't know Starbucks did door-to-door service."

He rolled his eyes. "Steve asked me to drop it off for you. He got called away to a meeting."

She covered a smile behind the cup. "So, you're a coffee deliverer for hire, is that it?"

"He didn't pay me."

"Cheapskate," she joked. "You want a tip?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Don't eat yellow snow?"

Darcy turned on her heel, poked his bicep, and said, "We should be friends."

"I don't know, doll. Can't even trust your taste in coffee."

" _Hey!_ Have you ever  _had_ whipped cream on your coffee?"

"No."

"Philistine." She offered hers to him. "Come on, give it a try. What's it gonna hurt? You know it's not poisoned because Steve gave it to you."

He eyed the cup a moment and then, looking exasperated, accepted it. He took a tentative sip, paused, and then another, longer drag. Darcy watched his pupils dilate.

Triumphantly, she grinned. " _See!_ "

He turned to her. "What's your policy on theft?"

"Aladdin was just trying to feed himself and his monkey-son."

He blinked. "I'm stealing this."

"Excuse you! Fifty-fifty custody, buddy." She reached for it back, but he merely stepped out of reach and started shot-gunning it. When he was done, he grinned, a whipped cream mustache mocking her. Fists on her hips, she said, "You owe me a coffee."

* * *

**…**

* * *

Darcy was ready to tear her hair out. All morning, she'd been shoving food at scientists and doctors, staring them down until they stepped away from their work to quickly eat whatever she required of them. One would think Helen would be a little easier to corral than Tony Stark, but when she got on a genius streak, she was difficult to get through to.

"Don't make me put you on an IV."

Helen blinked at her, not just bags but full on luggage under her eyes. "You think I haven't tried that? I thought it would save time." Her nose scrunched up. "I got tangled in the wires and... the mess took more effort than it was worth."

Darcy shook her head. "FRIDAY, enact—"

"No, Darcy, please!" Helen lunged for Darcy's sleeve, tugging on it and staring up at her with her best approximation of a 'puppy dog' look.

It might've worked if she didn't look so  _dog-tired_. Darcy snorted. Heh. Puns.

"I'm so close! I can feel it!" Helen nodded, her eyes round and wide. "The breakthrough is right there. This will revolutionize—"

"The revolution can wait." Darcy continued to the door, Helen hooked around her arm, feet sliding against the waxed floors. "You can pick it back up after you've slept, showered, and eaten three square meals."

Helen wiggled around, an arm outstretched for a nearby pile of paperwork. "But—"

"FRIDAY, enact ' _Helen Cho – stayin' alive_ ' protocol. 72-hour lockdown."

" _Enacting 'Helen Cho – stayin' alive' protocol now. 72-hour lockdown in effect in 5... 4... 3..."_

Darcy picked up the pace and hustled Cho right out the lab doors. She put her hands on her hips and stood in the way as they closed behind her with a  _whoosh_.

Helen swayed on her feet, her pout on full-blast. "How does it feel to be an enemy of medical advancement?"

Darcy shrugged. "The pay is good and the work is steady." Hooking an arm around Helen's shoulders, she walked her down the hall. "Think of it this way, in three days, when you jump back in with both feet, your brain will be well-fed and well-rested. Capable of  _all_ the advancing."

Helen groaned.

Darcy patted her shoulder. "There, there."

* * *

**…**

* * *

"Hey!"

Darcy slowed her steps and turned, brightening when she spotted Steve. "Hey back."

He thrust a hand out, Starbucks cup in hand. "Here. I think the whipped cream might've melted. Uh, it might need reheating too, I took a bit longer than expected."

Darcy accepted it with a smile. "No worries." She took a sip and found it was lukewarm. Eyeing his cup, which was definitely not Starbucks brand, she wondered, "Is that close to Starbucks?"

He looked down at his coffee, his brows hiked. "It's not far."

"Not far like you're an Olympic runner and can be there in a jiff, or not far like around the corner?"

He blinked. "It wasn't too out of my way."

"That sounds like polite speak for 'I had to go across town but I don't want you to feel bad.'"

He smiled. "I know how much you like it, and with all the hard work you do, you deserve it."

She raised her cup in cheers and squashed the warm feeling flooding her chest.

As someone passed them by, Steve stepped closer, his hand falling to the small of her back. Even when the hall cleared, he stayed near, the weight of his hand impossible to ignore. Darcy glanced up at him. "So, what's your morning look like?"

"Uh, meetings, mostly." He smiled down at her. "Yours?"

"Mad science awaits no woman. No matter how much I try to enforce basic work hours."

"Well, at least it's under capable supervision."

"I hope you're talking about me and not FRIDAY, because she let one of the computers catch fire for five full minutes before informing me there was a problem."

Steve winced. "How's Tony doing with the upgrade?"

"She's constantly learning. There's just a lot to keep an eye on. She takes direction well, she's just working on her reaction time when not being told what to do."

"It's better than nothing, I guess."

"Yeah, I'd take her over Ultron any day."

Steve snorted. "You and me both."

* * *

**…**

* * *

Darcy stared up at the Hulk and sighed. "No! No smashing on the science floor. There's a gym for that. It was specifically made for all the smashing."

Hulk scowled down at her. "Hulk smash tiny man."

'Tiny man' was the scientist currently hiding behind her, crouched down, shaking like a leaf. "No, Hulk will go smash dummies in his gym and leave Tiny Man for Darcy to smash... Metaphorically... With paperwork."

Hulk cocked his head. "Darcy smash Tiny Man for Hulk?"

She nodded. "Doesn't that sound like a better plan? That way Hulk can go play in the gym and doesn't have to fight with his whole team."

Hulk scoffed at the assembled Avengers, watching him warily. "Hulk smash them too.  _Easy_."

"Sure, do that,  _in the gym_." She pointed. "Hawkeye volunteers."

" _Aww, man_ ," Barton muttered.

Hulk grinned. "Hulk smash Birdie."

"Sure, have at it." She patted his arm and then pointed. "Go. Skedaddle. And use the super-skylight. There's a reason we had that put in."

As Hulk's loud and heavy footsteps left, the Avengers in quick pursuit, Darcy turned on her heel to stare down the scientist. "What part of 'do not blow up my floor' did you not understand?"

He smiled awkwardly. "It was an accident?"

"Is that a question?"

He looked away and then back. "No?"

"Greg, do you have any idea how much paperwork I'm gonna have you do?"

"... _all_ the paperwork?"

"Yes, Greg." She stared at him seriously. "So. Much. Paperwork."

* * *

**...**

* * *

Bucky was saving her a seat.

Darcy was pretty sure he usually stuck to eating when the cafeteria was empty, as she hadn't seen him in there much. She could understand wanting to avoid the crowd. While most people acknowledged that Bucky had come a long way in his recovery, they still tended to give him a wide berth. Today, however, he'd clearly decided the crowd was worth it. He sat at a table with two trays full of mountainous food. She took a seat across from him with her chicken caesar wrap, fruit salad, and pudding cup. "Where'd you get spaghetti?"

"Leftovers." He smirked. "Lunch lady likes me."

Darcy rolled her eyes. "Have you ever thought about using your handsome powers for good?"

"Nope. Just food." He pointed his fork at a snack size bag of chips she pulled from her purse. "You gonna eat those?"

Darcy raised an eyebrow. "No, I specifically took them out just to mock you."

He eyed her bag curiously. "You got anything else in there? Something sweet maybe?"

Darcy speared a piece of pineapple. "What, your lunch connection doesn't extend to dessert?"

"They've only got cheese cake." He scowled. "I hate cheese cake."

Darcy's brows hiked. "Note to self, never bring Barnes to the Cheesecake Factory."

"There's a whole factory?" His brow furrowed. " _Why?_ "

"We're a country built on all things excess." Darcy shrugged. "Anyway, I've only got a swiss cake roll in there and it's for Jane. She's gonna need the sugar after her late-afternoon crash."

"Swiss cake roll?"

"Yeah, Janey loves her Little Debbie."

Bucky stared at her. "I'll give you a whole plate of spaghetti for it."

"What?  _No_. It's for Jane. She's expecting it." She ate her pineapple and plucked up a grape. "I have her on a schedule."

His eyes narrowed. "One plate of spaghetti and a red velvet cupcake."

"You don't even  _have_ a cupcake."

"I can get you one."

Darcy rolled her eyes. "If you can get a cupcake, just eat that."

He leaned in and stared at her very seriously. "I need that swiss roll."

Darcy leaned in too. "Jane Foster opens doors to literal space in her spare time. If I give you that roll, she'll throw me through one and then you through another."

His eyes narrowed. "I'll take my chances."

Darcy maintained eye contact. Her head filled in the silence with cartoonish, country 'stand off' music.

She wasn't sure how long it would have gone on— she was damn sure she would've won— but suddenly Sam Wilson was taking a seat next to Barnes, his tray making a clatter as it hit the table. "Are you hustling girls for dessert cakes again?"

Bucky pulled a face. "Just one girl."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "This the same girl that saw you shove three cupcakes in your mouth without any shame?"

Bucky shrugged. "I gave her two back."

"Two, huh?" Sam shifted in his chair. "Two chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting and blue sprinkles? The ones I had in the fridge, clearly marked 'Sam's – do not touch on pain of  _death.'_ Those two cupcakes?"

Bucky stared at him a beat and then slowly smirked. "Cupcake's a cupcake."

Sam inhaled deeply, his nostrils flaring. "Should'a left your amnesiac ass in Wakanda with your goats and your  _sarong_."

"Does he even know what a sarong is?" Darcy wondered. "When were those invented?"

With a blink, both men turned around to face her. Awkwardly, she waved at Sam. "Hi, I'm Darcy, by the way."

He nodded back. "I know. You're in the labs, right? Where Steve's been spending every Friday night."

He said it knowingly, teasingly, and Darcy felt a flush fill her cheeks.

"What about Friday night?"

The man of the hour appeared then, taking a seat next to Darcy, two trays in hand. And good Lord, these boys could put a lot of food away. Steve smiled at her, and she absolutely refused to acknowledge that her heart did a weird swoopy thing. He had a fork in hand and did a quick survey of the room before he dug into his food. He did  _not_ have spaghetti, so apparently the lunch lady only favored Bucky.  _Injustice_.

Darcy nodded her head to Bucky and Sam. "They were bickering over cupcakes."

"Ahh." Steve shrugged. "They bicker over everything."

"We do not!" and "Like hell we don't," were muttered with equal rancor.

Steve grinned. "See?"

Darcy hummed. "You think it's a jealousy thing?"

"Jealous?  _Me_? Of him?"

"No fucking way."

Darcy ignored them, keeping her gaze on Steve. "Like maybe they both consider themselves your best friend and naturally dislike the competition."

His brows hiked and he turned a look on the two men, who were now glowering at them. "That makes sense."

Bucky stabbed a finger in her direction. "See if I ever bring you stolen cupcakes again."

Sam slapped a hand down on the table. "So, you  _did_ steal them!"

"Of course I stole them. Keep up, Featherhead."

"Featherhead?  _Featherhead_ is the best you can do?"

"I try not to put much energy into things I don't care about."

"Ohhh..." Sam laughed. "All right. Okay. You know what—"

"On a scale of one-to-ten, what are the chances this devolves into a food fight?" Darcy wondered.

Steve grimaced. "Eleven."

Later, when she was quite literally hosed down in the cafeteria, glaring at a dripping Bucky cheerfully eating her chips, she would wonder when her life got so damn weird, and when she grew to like it.

* * *

**…**

* * *

Darcy took one look at Tony, who was doing his absolute best to look like a totally put-together human being, scoffed, and said, "Twenty-four-hour lockdown. Go to bed."

Tony balked. "For  _what?_ "

She pointed a pen at the top of his head. "That is mad scientist hair. It's 'about to Frankenstein something that will cause serious damage' hair. It's 'my genius cannot be contained and neither can the oncoming explosion' hair."

Tony blinked at her. "You can't make decisions based on my hair, Lewis. This hair is—"

She dug through her Very Serious™ binder and came out with a laminated paper with various cutouts on a faceless head, each bearing his goatee. She held it up and closed one eye, moving it around, until she said, "Ah-HAH! See!" She poked the laminated page and then handed it to him. "Mad Scientist Hair—DEFCON 3."

He snatched it away from her and took a look at each of the cut outs before tapping one of the glass walls so it become a mirror. Touching his hair, he looked from it to the page, and said, "Don't be ridiculous. This falls under 'Genius Bender.' It's a DEFCON 4, at  _most_." He motioned to a flippy part of his hair and then showed it to her on the page.

"Nice try, but this, right here." She pointed to the lopsided, faux-hawk happening at the top. "That's a clear sign—"

A throat cleared, drawing their attention.

Pepper was standing in the doorway, arms crossed, looking both exasperated and fond. "Tony..."

He stared at her a beat and then tossed Darcy the hair chart. "All right, you win. Pep, I have it on good authority that I need a nap. Care to join me?" He held out an arm for her and looked pleased when she took it. "Take the morning off, Lewis." He waved over his shoulder.

Darcy rolled her eyes. "FRIDAY, enact protocol  _'Tony Stark – who run the world? Girls._ ' Twenty-four-hour lockdown with a mandatory check-in before reopening."

" _Enacting protocol 'Tony Stark—who run the world? Girls_.'"

Darcy left the lab feeling accomplished, only to walk right into DUM-E chasing a panicked Robert with a sloshing bucket of... motor oil? With a sigh, she followed after them.

* * *

**...**

* * *

Darcy found Steve in the common room, half-hidden behind the open fridge door. "Isn't that Sam's?"

Steve paused, mid-bite, and turned a wide-eyed innocent look on her.

Darcy cocked her head. "You know he's going to blame that on Bucky, right?"

His gaze fell to the food and he smothered a smile as he stirred his fork around.

Darcy's eyes widened. "Oh my  _God_. That's what you're expecting. You troll!"

With a shrug, Steve held out the fork to her, swamped in chow mein noodles and BBQ pork. "Wanna bite?"

She paused, looked over her shoulder to the door, and then shrugged. Leaning in, she let her mouth fold around the outstretched fork. With a hum, she nodded. "Oh, that's good."

He grinned. "We're accomplices now, Darce." He winked as he took another bite. "You can't rat me out."

Darcy rolled her eyes. "Maybe not to Sam, I can't."

He stared at her, completely still. "You wouldn't..."

Backing up to the door, Darcy grinned. " _Buuuckyyy_..."

Steve shoved the container back in the fridge and then darted toward her.

With a laugh, she turned to run, only to have him scoop an arm around her waist and lift her off the ground. "What happened to loyalty, huh?" His breath rustled the hair by her ear.

Giggling, she leaned back against him, her head falling to his shoulder. "What can I say? He's my best cupcake connection."

"Is that what it takes then?" He was still holding her, his chin perched on her shoulder, the bristles of his beard tickling her neck. "Cupcakes?"

Darcy felt her heart flutter. Feeling strangely sincere, she told him, "I wouldn't rat you out."

"No?"

"Not even for a red-velvet." She turned her head toward him. "Anyway, Bucky's off-base."

"Now who's the troll?"

His hand was spread across her ribs, it was so big that she felt impossibly small. She imagined it was what Jane had felt like, swamped by Thor's frame. A part of her wanted to do something— lean into his touch, wiggle closer, reach up and comb her fingers through the resistance beard he was growing. But those thoughts fled in the wake of an Avengers Assemble alarm. Suddenly, she was back on her feet, swaying a little, and Steve's 'let's get down to business' face was back on. Only, he was hesitating, standing just a few short inches away.

She smiled. "Go. Defeat the huns."

And then he was off, and she was left to wonder if that moment felt as tense and charged to him as it did to her. Shaking it off, she turned on her heel and walked back to the fridge. Since Sam would be off Avenging, he probably wouldn't miss his leftover chow mein too much...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have been working on this story for what feels like forever but has probably only been weeks. on the bright side, it's basically finished. the editing process always fleshes it out more, so i'm doing that as i go along. this chapter was originally like 15k, but i split it up for easier reading. i had the idea for this one stuck in my head for a while and i'm generally pretty happy about it, but it took me a while to get comfortable with posting it. it's been a while since i wrote for mcu. i've been updating my 'time' fic, another darcy/steve but the chapters are much shorter and it's mostly set in the past. this feels different to that, so i hope you're enjoying it. darcy's got a special brand of humor that i enjoy writing and i like seeing most of the characters generally pretty light hearted. it'll get deeper and angstier as we go along and explore a few different themes, but i kind of like this pre-storm joy for everyone. :) 
> 
> thanks so much for reading, please leave a review if you can!


	2. Chapter 2

**ii.**

Darcy didn't get sick.

Darcy  _couldn't_ get sick.

She had no  _time_ for being sick.

Which was exactly what she told  _both_ Steves when they found her sitting under a desk in Bruce's lab (his was the quietist), huffing in the steam coming off a bowl of chicken noodle soup, her hair in disarray and her eyes glazed.

"How'd you find me?"

"You left a cracker trail from Jane's lab to here." Both Steves crouched down in front of her, a perfect mirror, arms braced on their knees. "How're you feeling?"

"Fine. Totally fine. Why do you ask?" Her eyes darted from one Steve face to the other. Both were ridiculously handsome and entirely too concerned.

The Steves sighed. "FRIDAY says you have a fever of a hundred-and-three. Jane said you mixed your orange juice and coffee together this morning—"

"That was efficient. I wanted both, but I don't have the time, so now..." She stared at him from wide, bleary eyes. "They're  _one_."

The Steves stared at her a beat. "What day is it?"

"Every day is a treasure."

"When was the last time you slept?"

"Sleep is for the weak."

"How many of me are standing in front of you?"

"Nice try, Steves. Math might not be my favorite subject, but I can count to two and I don't even need my fingers."

They blinked. "There are two of me?"

She stared between the Steves. "We are infinite."

"Okay." Reaching out, he hauled her up into his arms, just one pair of them, which was... slightly confusing. Still, Darcy held her soup bowl steadily in her lap as her head fell against his shoulder.

She stared at him, reaching up to poke his jaw. "Where're we going?"

"Medical." He left Bruce's lab and started for the elevator. "You're sick, Darcy."

" _Heresy!_ I'm the healthiest I've ever been." She squirmed in his arms, but quickly tired herself out, and went dramatically limp. "Listen, Steves, I appreciate the care and concern, but I have a floor to run. A floor that needs me. A floor with too many geniuses who regularly explode things.  _Important_ thing. Like each other."

"I promise you, they'll be on their best behaviour until you're back on your feet."

She stared at them and then raised a hand, her pinkie extended.

With a grin, the Steves reached out and wrapped theirs around hers.

" _Whoa_. Three-way pinkie." She goggled. "Triple the promise powers."

Amused and endeared, the Steves shook their handsome, patriotic head. "Next time you're sick, you tell me, all right?"

She blinked. "Which one of you?"

He sighed. " _Both_."

Darcy nodded sagely. "Okey-doke."

* * *

**…**

* * *

" _Psst_ , Helen."

Helen looked up from her Starkpad, an eyebrow raised. "Yes, Darcy?"

"What's a hardworking girl gotta do to get broken out of this joint?"

Helen's gaze skirted toward the Steves, standing just outside of the room, before returning to Darcy. "Your fever is dangerously high. I don't think busting out of anywhere is a good idea."

"No way, I feel better than ever." Darcy paused. "I actually feel light as air. Like a floating bobble head."

"Is that... a  _good_ thing, in your opinion?"

"Who wouldn't want to be a bobblehead on the dashboard of life?"

Helen blinked. "Anybody that gets carsick, I imagine."

Darcy pulled a face. "Is that Helen-speak for you're not going to help me with my jailbreak?"

Amused, Helen shook her head. "You know Captain Rogers can hear you, right?"

"He does have deceptively strong hearing." Darcy stared at his back through the window of her room, his arms crossed and feet planted in that 'ready to take on the world' stance of his.  _Guh_. "And what an ass too, am I right?"

Helen choked on a laugh.

Darcy, slightly delirious, merely shrugged. "So, what's the diagnosis, Doc?"

"Well, other than a complete and total lack of shame, you also have a serious case of the flu."

Darcy blinked at her. "This is because I locked you out of your lab, isn't it? Grudge-holding is bad for your heart, Helen. Practice peace and forgiveness and let me return to my scientist herding."

"Afraid not." She smiled. "Make yourself comfortable, you'll be here overnight.  _At least_."

Darcy groaned, loud and dramatic.

* * *

**...**

* * *

Darcy was down for an entire week. She didn't remember a lot of the first three days, but the last four seemed like overkill, in her opinion. She did learn that Steve was a fusser, though. After Helen said she could return to her apartment, Steve dropped by frequently. In a role-reversal Darcy wasn't all that used to,  _she_  was the one being taken care of. He checked in that she was eating, personally picked up any groceries or medications she needed, and put her on a sleeping schedule.  _Her_. She who had to force others to sleep.

When he couldn't stick around, he sent Bucky in his stead, who was much more open to playing video games to pass the time. Steve just wanted her to rest and sleep and load up on food. Bucky let her sit on her couch, covered in four blankets, tissue paper shoved up her nose to keep it from dripping and distracting her.

They were playing Mario Kart and Bucky was beyond annoyed that she kept kicking his ass.

"Guess those sniper reflexes don't translate to good old-fashioned video games. That or your eye sight is failing you in your old age."

"This geezer just blue-shelled your ass, Lewis."

Darcy's gaze found the screen and then widened.

Bucky smirked. "I'm a quick learner."

She turned a glare on him. "I have experience behind me. I've been blue-shelling people since I was knee-high!" She settled more deeply into her couch, readjusted her blankets, and gripped her controller a little tighter. "You're on."

Bucky grinned. "Show me what you've got."

Steve found them later, Darcy hacking up a lung as she danced triumphantly, having beat Bucky in a 3-2 split. "Hah! I told you!"

Bucky just shook his head. "It was a lucky throw. I had you on the ropes last round."

Darcy whirled around. "Ex- _cuse_ me."

He simply leaned back, arms crossed over his chest. "You heard me."

Darcy's hands found her hips. "First one to five wins—"

"No!" Steve interjected. He grabbed up the fallen blankets from the floor, wrapped them around Darcy, and scooped her up. "Nap time. You can play games later. Right now, you need to rest."

Darcy grumbled up at him, but the heat coming off him and the dancing earlier had her feeling sleepy. Plus, she told herself, a nap would mean her reflexes would be sharper, making it easier to kick Bucky's ass when she woke up.

* * *

**…**

* * *

A couple days after Darcy returned to work, Steve was still hovering a bit. He brought her soup and tea and always had a pack of tissues on hand in case her nose was runny or stuffed. It was kind of ridiculously cute.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite nurse." She grinned as he crossed the lab floor to her. "Don't tell me, you're here to rub Vicks VapoRub on my chest and sing me a lullaby."

His mouth kicked up at the corner. "I'm not opposed to it."

She laughed under her breath. "What'd you bring me?"

He held the tray up. "Minestrone, buttered bun, and a coffee. The soup is from Sam. It's his mom's recipe."

"I will return to that last bit in a second, because wow, thank you Sam, but—  _Coffee?_ " Her eyes lit up. "I'm allowed to increase my caffeine intake?"

"I triple-checked with Dr. Cho and she said as long as you're getting your fluids and sleeping regularly, she's fine with it."

Darcy rocked her hips around in a little dance. "I'm gonna kiss that woman later."

With a huff of a laugh, he placed the tray on her desk. "She expected you'd say that and even though she's pretty sure you aren't contagious anymore, she doesn't want to take a chance."

"Spoilsport." Standing from her desk, she said, "Well, you can't catch my cooties." Reaching up on her tip-toes, she laid a loud, smacking kiss on his cheek. "Thanks for the food... and the caretaking... and those three-times you held my hair back while I vomited."

"It was more like six, and you're welcome." His gaze skirted away, to the glass walls, and then back. "You're feeling okay?"

"Uh-huh. Tip-top shape. Feels great to be back. There were two fires this morning." She grinned. " _Two_."

He stared at her a beat. "And that's... a  _good_ thing?"

"They were safely put out." She sighed wistfully. "I was starting to miss the smell of burnt lab coat."

Steve shook his head, looking amused and fond. "Well, I'm happy if you're happy."

"Oh, I am." She nodded. "Seriously though, thanks for being there. I know I was probably a terrible patient—"

"You did frequently try to sneak out of your apartment only to pass out in the hallway."

"—and I was a little resistant to taking time off—"

"I found you in the vent once, you fell asleep with your legs still dangling."

"—but you really powered through—"

"On the third day, you dressed up in a purple blanket and told me you were the Lizard Queen."

"—I don't think there's a thank you card that encompasses all of...  _that_. But, you know,  _thanks_."

Steve stared at her a moment and then grinned. "Happy to. I'd do it again tomorrow." He started backing up toward the doors, hands tucked in the pockets of his pants. "Just remember our triple pinkie swear, all right?"

Darcy nodded. "Tell the Steves when I'm sick."

"Exactly."

* * *

**...**

* * *

Jane stared at her, arms crossed, three pencils of varying sizes sticking out from the pocket of her mustard yellow t-shirt, pink bubble letters across the front proclaiming her a 'science queen.' "He brought you your favorite soup, took your temperature, and tucked you into bed. He absolutely, definitely has feelings for you."

"Yes.  _Friendly_  feelings. He'd do the same for Bucky or Sam or even Thor if he needed it." She paused. "I bet Thor's a total baby when he's sick…"

"He was. But not the point." Jane stared at her. "Eventually, you're going to have to face the obvious."

Darcy's brow furrowed. "That I've seriously underappreciated all those times you were so busy with science you weren't throwing truth grenades at me on this, the holiest of days?"

"It's Tuesday."

" _Taco Tuesday_ , Jane. Show a little respect, all right?"

Jane rolled her eyes. "Your ability to live in denial is  _astounding_."

Darcy grinned and gave a little curtsy. "Thank you."

* * *

**…**

* * *

"Explain to me again what you need with a heat-seeking taser."

Darcy stared at Maria across the table from her. "You missed the best part, which is the double, possibly triple, rotating head."

Maria took a deep breath and crossed her arms. " _Explain_."

"I thought it was pretty self-explanatory..." Darcy leaned back in her seat, the picture of nonchalance. "Let's say I'm attacked by multiple thugs, right? Thugs that give off  _heat_. The heads will automatically adjust for aim and I can take out more than one at a time." She shrugged. "I'm not seeing a downside here."

"The downside would be arming you. And that you  _also_ give off heat, and could potentially taser yourself if you're not careful."

"Hey, Careful is my middle name. It's Darcy Eugenia Careful Lewis."

Maria sent her a flat look. "Your middle name is Leigh."

"Yeah, but Eugenia has such a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"I'm axing your taser project."

Darcy leaned forward in her seat with a frown and dropped a fist to the tabletop dramatically. "I demand a second opinion."

"Fine." Maria rolled her eyes to her left. "Pepper, should Darcy have a double or triple-headed, rotating, heat-seeking taser?"

Pepper delicately dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. "When you guys invited me to lunch I was hoping we would leave work back at the base."

"I'm not sure Maria knows how to do that." Darcy faux-whispered, "She's a workaholic."

"You're one to talk." Maria shook her head. "And what's wrong with a working lunch anyway? Most of what I need to talk about involves work somehow."

Darcy stared at her a beat and then looked at Pepper. "Hey, how's that list of potentials for Maria's lackluster love-life going?"

Pepper smiled. "Promising."

"Any interviews yet?"

"Jennifer from finance has potential."

Darcy grinned. "Okay, I can see it."

"There's also Rhodey. He's probably my favorite so far."

"I will take you both out with a non-rotating, non-heat-seeking taser if you don't drop this," Maria told them.

Darcy eyed the unexpected pink flush to Maria's cheeks. "All right, fine. I won't have the taser built until we can smooth out a few obvious kinks. But, for the record... Rhodey is pretty awesome. I can see that working long-term."

Maria threw a fork at her that, uh, yeah, definitely lodged itself in the back of Darcy's chair, an inch from her shoulder.

"You're terrifying," she said, with all the awe and appreciation Maria deserved.

"Thank you. Now hand that back to me, I need it for my salad."

* * *

**…**

* * *

Darcy stared at a very small, very eager, very  _young_ Peter Parker, wearing a lab coat and goggles and grinning excitedly, and she considered early retirement for about five long seconds. Then she blinked. "Where is this child's keeper?"

Stark popped up from behind a desk in a grease-smudged tank top, soldering tool in hand. "Huh?"

Darcy pointed at Peter and stared Stark down. "Does his guardian know he's here?"

"Uh… yeah. Mm-hmm." Tony shrugged. "I'm pretty sure I sent a letter assuring her he wouldn't be maimed or lost."

"You did. Aunt May was very excited." Peter paused. "Well, maybe not 'excited' exactly. But she only  _looked_ nauseas. She didn't  _actually_ throw up. And she didn't stop me from coming, she just wanted me to check in six times a day. I have alerts set up on my phone that let me know when to call her."

Darcy took a deep breath. "Tony."

"Yes, dear?"

"Is Pepper aware you adopted a teenager?"

He glanced away. "She's not…  _not_ aware."

Darcy hummed. "So, Peter, have you met Helen Cho?"

His brows hiked. "Helen Cho like  _world-renowned geneticist_  Helen Cho?"

"Yup."

He stared at her and then looked to Tony and then back. "Is she…" His voice cracked. "Is she  _here?_ "

Darcy grinned slowly. "She is."

"No," Tony said. "Absolutely not. You are not stealing my intern. I need him. For interning purposes."

Darcy waved him off dismissively. "You don't have an intern. I know because I would have to approve you having an intern and I haven't. Which means that Peter is a guest. And guests deserve a tour guide. Which I'm happy to be,  _temporarily_ , for as long as it takes to introduce him to Helen, where his hero worship can be redirected."

Stark scowled. "You're a menace, Lewis."

"Uh-huh." She swung an arm around Peter's shoulders and guided him out of Tony's lab. "So, how long is Aunt May letting you stay with us?"

"Just a week. But if it turns out okay and nobody dies, she said she's open to renegotiating for another week."

"Your aunt sounds like a smart woman." She paused. "Y'know, permission to hang out with Stark aside."

* * *

**…**

* * *

Darcy dropped by her office to pick-up her pile of untouched mail when she found Bucky sitting in her swivel chair, his feet up on the desk, a bowl of BBQ peanuts in his lap and a Spanish soap opera playing on the TV mounted on the wall. She blinked at him. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Marisol just found out Destin is cheating on her with her twin sister." He tossed a peanut in his mouth. "Marisol's in love with Alejandra anyway. But Alejandra is married to Joseph. Or who she thinks is Joseph. Pretty sure it's a clone."

Darcy pulled up a chair and mimicked him, putting her feet up and digging out a handful of peanuts from the bowl. "Who's who?"

Bucky's mouth twitched with a smile before he started pointing people out and giving her a short biography on each.

Ten minutes later, Sam joined them. He dragged over a chair of his own, opened a bag of chips he absolutely refused to share, and said, "What'd I miss?"

* * *

**…**

* * *

"Arrested?" Steve's brows hiked. " _Seriously?_ "

Darcy grinned as she crossed the station floor, her belongings tucked in a labeled plastic bag. "Do I sense a little admiration in your tone?"

He snorted. "I'd admire you more if you weren't  _caught_."

Coming to a stop in front of him, she shrugged. "It was for a good cause."

"You sucked-punched a guy."

"He deserved it."

Sighing, Steve crossed his arms. "What did he do?"

Taking a deep breath, she opened the bag and started pulling her things out. "Okay,  _so_ , I was on the subway, because I had to pick up this stationary that Elisha in Lab Four really likes. I've tried ordering it, but they always overprice it online and I have a connection— _yes_ , Steve, a stationary connection— and they always get it for me marked down cheap. Anyway, so I'm listening to my ' _you better work, bitch_ ' playlist, as you do, when I look up, and there's a guy sitting way too close to Janessa." She scrolled through her phone absently, swiping away unnecessary alerts. "Janessa is a high school junior, and the guy next to her is about thirty years her senior. Now I've got nothing against May-December relationships, but that doesn't apply to teenagers. And Janessa might as well be a fetus." She thumbed the power button on her phone and tucked it in her back pocket. "Anyway, long story short, he put a hand on her knee, and I saw her freeze in a 'deer in the headlights' kind of way that spells out impending future trauma. So, y'know, I did the only thing that made sense at the time."

Steve stared at her, his mouth set in a harsh line. "You punched him."

"Oh, I also stomped on his balls. Man-spreading made that easily accessible. And  _then_ I punched him." She grinned. "No worries though, I already let Maria knows and she promises it'll be totally off the record. Plus, Paul the Perv broke his parole and is heading back to the big house. All in all, I think it was a pretty good day." She held up a bag. "And I got the stationary too. So, I say we call it a win."

Steve didn't answer. Instead, he reached out, took her hand, and raised it. His thumb very gently brushed over her bruised and swollen knuckles. His touch was light, but it still brought into jarring reflection that she had punched someone in the eye and her hand was suffering for it.

"You were right," he said, his voice pitched low.

She stared at him, curious.

"What you heard was admiration."

Her mouth hitched up in a smile.

"Come on." He started backing up, toward the door of the police precinct, drawing her along with him. "You've got everything you came here with?"

She winked at him. "And a little extra."

Steve huffed a laugh. He turned to walk at her side and drew her hand under and around his arm so they were hooked together. "There's a good Pho place around the corner. Why don't we get something to eat before we head back to base?"

She nodded. "Sounds good to me."

* * *

**…**

* * *

Darcy was sprawled out on the grass, Jane laid out next to her, shoulder to shoulder. The grass was poking through Darcy's shirt, making her back itchy. She should've brought a blanket out, but honestly, this was a last-minute thing. Jane said there was going to be a meteor shower. They wouldn't need the high-powered telescope. It'd be clear to see without it. The compound was far enough away from much of the light pollution of the city that they should have a clear view. Still, Darcy had FRIDAY shut down all exterior lights for this exact purpose.

"This is probably a safety issue," Jane said, her voice quiet, despite the fact that they were the only two people there, and they were far enough from the building that not even Steve or Bucky and their super-ears could hear them.

"I'll deal with that tomorrow." Darcy waved dismissively. "Is it starting yet?"

"I've already seen a couple." As a meteor cut a quick path across the sky, Jane pointed. "See."

"Can I wish on them?"

"Wishing doesn't work for anything. Stars, meteors, birthday candles, it's all just—"

"Okay, Bitter McPessimist, calm down."

Jane rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying. Wishing for something won't make it happen."

"Of course it won't." Darcy snorted. "But it makes you feel like your chances are a little better. Sometimes it feels nice to think there's some cosmic force out there that's on your side."

Jane turned her head to stare at her a moment. "What would you wish for?"

Darcy shrugged, her hands stacked on her stomach. "Normal stuff. That my parents are healthy and happy, that you make all the science breakthroughs your tiny body can take, that we survive whatever earth-ending enemy comes knocking next..."

"Nothing just for you?"

"Those  _are_ for me. I want my parents to stick around, I want you to find whatever you're looking for out there, and I want us and the team and everybody to make it through another day or month or year." She shrugged. "It's not half as selfless as it sounds."

"But what about you specifically? Like, your health or your passions or your... your  _goals_."

"I have everything I could want right now. I run the lab, I hang out with my best friend every day, I'm surrounded by good people doing good things... What more could I ask for?"

Jane hummed. Reaching out, she folded her hand around Darcy's and squeezed. "I'm lucky too."

"You're not lucky, Jane. You're driven. You put in the hard work that got you here."

"So did you."

"Nah." Darcy scrunched up her nose. "I took the right internship at the right time. For me, all of this is luck."

"You're wrong."

Darcy sighed. "Jane—"

"You proved yourself. To me, to Pepper, to Maria. That's why they wanted you to run the labs. To watch out for everybody, not just me. Because they're know you're capable. They know you'll keep us together and keep our egos in check." She gave Darcy's hand a quick shake. "I know you like to joke around, and most of the time, that works. It keeps things light when we get too dark, too focused. But Darcy... You're a strong, smart, capable person. You took this job on and you made it your own and, honestly, I wouldn't want anyone else."

"You have to say that, you're my best friend."

"Doesn't mean I'm not right."

Darcy smiled. "All right, Janey. That's enough shmoop for one night. Let's look at the stars."

"They're comets."

" _Shhh_."

* * *

**…**

* * *

Darcy sat in a lawn chair, wearing a snuggie, watching Steve stoke a fire in the recently dug firepit. She was a little disappointed she'd missed the part where he'd chopped up wood for this occasion. There was a small table stacked with food: fruit, veggies, dip, potato salad, cheeses, meats, pickles, chips, fresh buns, and a collection of condiments.

"I feel like I'm camping... minus the forest and the mosquito bites."

"At least we have the campfire."

"True." Her eyes lit up. "Oh man, a s'more would be amazing."

Steve grinned. "I thought of that." He dug around in a bag and came out with marshmallows, chocolate bars, and graham crackers.

Her eyes narrowed curiously. "Did you research this?"

Steve ducked his head, strands of hair falling across his eyes. "I might've looked up ideas for city camping... And then there were a bunch of links to something called  _glamping_." He shook his head. "Anyway, I just figured we could do something simple here. Thought you might be getting tired of take-out. So, cold cuts, veggies and dip, s'mores for dessert... Sounded like a good idea at the time."

"It was." She smiled. "It's pretty awesome, actually."

He looked up and the firelight made his eyes sparkle. "Yeah?"

She nodded, and felt a swooping in her chest, like her heart was attempting to take flight. "Yup. I even broke out my favorite snuggie for the occasion."

He snorted. "I saw that."

"Don't judge me, Rogers. This thing is quintessential comfort." She wiggled around in her seat and smoothed her hands down her front, over the soft,  _soft_ fabric. "Anyway, if we're camping, then I want ghost stories."

Steve circled around and took a seat in a nearby chair. He started putting together the sandwiches; one for her and three for himself. He stacked them on a plate with a big scoop of potato salad and a handful of chips. She took her plate and balanced it on her knees while he did the same with two plates.

Darcy tucked her beer in the pouch built into the handle of her chair.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" he wondered.

Darcy gave it some thought before eventually shrugging. "Yeah, sure. My mom used to think her aunt was haunting her. They didn't get along so great when she was alive and mom was pretty sure her aunt carried it with her right to the grave."

"What about you? Any ghost encounters?"

She hummed. "This is gonna sound dumb."

"Tell it anyway."

"All right, okay, so... I was like thirteen. It was a Friday night, so I had a friend sleeping over. Christine. Short-lived friendship, but at the time, we were thick as thieves. Anyway, so it's late, like almost midnight, and we were heading to bed. I was walking down the hall when I saw her standing in the kitchen. No lights on or anything. She's just standing by the back door. And so I said like, hey, let's go to bed. But she just stood there, staring at me. It was super weird. And then... The bathroom door opened behind me. When I looked, there's Christine, walking out of the bathroom. And when I turn back around, there's nobody in the kitchen. Except the back door is open. Not a lot, just a crack, but..." She shook her head. "I don't know. I used to think that whatever or whoever it was, they were trying to warn me. To let me know the door wasn't locked. So, I did, I slammed it shut and I locked it and I went to bed, but I couldn't get it out of my head."

"You think it protected you."

She licked her lips. "Yeah. I don't know what from. Maybe nothing. Maybe it just wanted me to know. So..." She shrugged. "It seems crazy. Maybe I was just really tired or something. But, when you've met aliens and gods and survived a few apocalypses, ghosts don't seem so strange."

"No, no they don't." Steve took a drag off his beer. "When I was a kid, I used to think I saw my dad. Just out of the corner of my eye. When I turned, he wasn't there. But for a long time, I thought he was there with me, he was watching over me, and it was a big comfort back then."

She watched the fire play over his features. "What about now?"

He shook his head, a quick jerk to the right. "No. Not since the serum... You know, if there was anywhere he'd want to be, anywhere he'd want to keep a close eye on me, it'd be the battlefield. But he never made it there with me. I used to wonder if it was because he thought I didn't need him anymore. That I was strong enough now I didn't need some guardian angel on my shoulder."

"You were strong long before the muscles came into play, Steve."

"Yeah, maybe." He sniffed and shook his head. "Anyway, I guess we're in the same boat. We've both got ghosts."

She half-smiled. "At least they're on our side."

He let out a strangled laugh. "Yeah."

Darcy focused on eating her sandwich then, watching the fire dance and jump. It was a nice feeling. Sometimes, they didn't need to talk, just being with each other was enough. For someone who was used to filling the silence with noise or breaking up the tension with humor, it meant a lot.

When the sandwiches were done, Steve prepared a couple sticks. He'd just picked up the bag of marshmallows when the sliding glass door opened and two familiar faces poked out.

Darcy grinned. "No dessert without dinner."

Sam and Bucky crowded around the table and started slapping together a few sandwiches. A small fight broke out with them wrestling for the mustard and the meat and the last pickle. Meanwhile, Steve handed her a stick and she let her marshmallow brown to a perfect, golden  _goo_. She folded it between a graham crackers and chocolate and  _squished_ it down.

"All right, settle down." Steve shoved at Sam and Bucky's shoulders when they started elbowing at each other. "If you can't smarten up, you're not getting s'mores."

They scowled at each other and then at Steve.

Darcy smirked. "We'll turn this camp site around and go straight home."

Both Sam and Bucky rolled their eyes, but Steve seemed just as amused as she did.

Sam and Bucky settled down on opposites side of the fire to avoid conflict, quickly plowing through their sandwiches. It was only after, when Bucky grabbed the whole bag of marshmallows and took off running that things ratcheted back up. Sam was up on his feet, spitting curse words, and chasing after a laughing Bucky, while Darcy and Steve sat back and watched.

"They grow up so fast," Darcy said.

Steve's head fell back as he laughed.

* * *

**…**

* * *

A collection of scientists stood in front of her, ten of whom were sporting Blue Man Group shades of dyed skin, the other eight covered in paste and glitter.

"Can someone tell me what the first rule of Lab War is?"

They looked around at each other, unsure, and then turned to Darcy expectantly.

"There is no first rule, because Lab War is not a thing. Or it wasn't a thing, until you guys  _made_ it a thing. And now, every other day, I'm getting reports from FRIDAY about how you've done something else to drive each other crazy. And you know who that affects?"

"Each other?"

"Ourselves?"

" _No_. It affects  _me_." Darcy paced from one end of the line to the other. "I'm the one who has to order more supplies and then explain why we need it. I'm the one who has to make sure your latest antics haven't kicked Bruce into a green rage. I'm the one who has to stop Tony from joining in and making it ten times worse. And I'm the one who has to dish out consequences when you cross a line." She tucked her arms behind her back. "Do you think I  _like_ doing that?"

Risha shrugged. "A little."

Darcy pointed at her. "Here's the thing. Lab War didn't exist and so it didn't have rules. Now it does and rule one is this... Whatever you do to each other, I will do back to you,  _twice_ as bad." She let her gaze wander from face to face. "And if you're wondering if I'll go easy on you, I won't." DUM-E and U rolled up to bracket either side of her. "I've tased a god, fought dark elves, and I regularly go toe to toe with Tony Stark and the Hulk." She grinned. " _So!_ What do we think?"

They looked around at each other a moment and then grimaced.

One by one, they agreed. "We forfeit."

Before the soggy, glitter-ridden troupe could leave, however, Risha said, "You know, you could've just sent us away for team building or something. Trust exercises have less implied violence."

Darcy scoffed. "Where's the fun in that?"

* * *

**...**

* * *

Darcy lay sprawled out on her stomach on a yoga mat, her phone in her hands while she kicked her legs absently.

"This a new exercise I'm not familiar with?" Bucky took a seat in front of her, his legs extended, and a water bottle gripped in his hand.

"Yeah, it's called beginner's planking."

His mouth twitched. "That right?"

"Mm-hmm." Finishing off her tweet, she dropped her phone down on the floor and perched her chin on her upturned hands. "Good workout?"

He nodded. "Helps clean the cobwebs outta by brain."

"Whatever works for ya." She shrugged. "Personally, I prefer hard liquor and ice cream."

Bucky snorted. "Bet you're a handful when you're drunk."

"I'm always a handful." Pushing up to her knees, she sat back on her feet. "Speaking of ice cream, there's some Rocky Road in the freezer. We should go eat that."

His brow furrowed. "Didn't you just get here?"

"Beginning's planking is more of a spiritual exercise." She pressed her hands together in a prayer-pose. "I am one with the Darcy... and the Darcy wants ice cream."

Shaking his head, Bucky stood and tossed his towel around his neck. "Isn't the Rocky Road Sam's?"

"Yup!"

Bucky smirked. "Lead the way."

* * *

**…**

* * *

Darcy didn't look up as a tall, slim body suddenly appeared next to her and fell into stride. "Maria."

"Darcy."

She continued to tap away at her tablet. "To what do I owe the mid-day visit?"

"Manicures. Today. 4 pm. I've already booked it."

Darcy hummed. "Anywhere particular?"

"Pepper suggested a place. She can't make it; she's in Tokyo."

"More champagne for me then."

"Don't bring the hideous flip flops"

"They're not hideous. They have  _character_ … Anyway, I can't. Jane shoved them down the garbage dispenser." She paused. "By the way, I think the garbage dispenser needs to be repaired. No idea why..."

To her credit, Maria only let out a tiny sniff of exasperation. "You're lucky Finance approved that increased budget for repairs."

"I'm thinking of putting up a sign with your face on it that says: 'What would Hill do?' Instead of a motivational poster, it's  _de_ -motivational. Stop the thing before the thing because a  _thing._ "

Maria's mouth kicked up faintly. "We used to do that with Fury until he decided that repeated exposure to his angry face would decrease its effectiveness."

Darcy hummed. "He might have a point."

Maria nodded. "Evac's at 4 o'clock. Be ready."

Darcy wiggled her eyebrows. "I love it when you talk Agent to me."

Maria raised an eyebrow and smirked at her. "I know." She disappeared down a side hallway with entirely too much grace.

Darcy shook her head. "You complete me!"

* * *

**...**

* * *

"Jane, you're drunk."

" _You're_ drunk."

"Oh, totally. But I'm not the one trying to climb the observatory."

"I wanna sit on it! I wanna ride the stars."

"Uh..."

Jane grunted as she continued to climb the metal ladder on the outside dome.

Sighing, Darcy followed after her. "You know we're gonna have to call someone, right? There's no way we're getting down from here on our own."

"Look at the stars, Darce. Look how they shine for  _youuu_  and everything that you  _dooo_..."

"Coldplay, too, huh? You're  _really_ drunk."

The doors were open, leaving the telescope visible below. An orange glow radiated from the inside. Jane hadn't been content to sit inside and admire the stars from afar; instead, she wanted to be closer. It reminded Darcy of nights spent on the roof in Puente Antiguo, in their cheap lawn chairs with thick blankets on their laps and a thermos of hot chocolate shared between them. Only tonight there were no blankets and the hot chocolate was a bottle of cheap tequila.

Still, when Jane laid herself down at the top, Darcy did too, shoulder to shoulder.

"I miss it sometimes," Jane whispered.

"What? The stars?"

"No. The... anonymity. Before all my ideas were proven right and every pompous jerk at my school had to admit they were wrong."

"You  _miss_ that?"

"I miss feeling like I had a purpose. Like I knew something, I could feel it, no matter what anyone else thought. It was just me and my ideas and a sky full of possibilities."

"You still know more than anybody else, Janey. You're still searching for things. Your purpose hasn't changed."

"I know." Jane bit her lip. "But it was kind of nice, right? Just us and the van and our duct-taped machines. It wasn't perfect. It was actually  _really_ hard. But it was ours. I made that.  _We_ made that."

"It was nice." Darcy smiled. "It's our origins story."

"Yeah?" Jane turned to look at her, eyes damp. "We were born of stardust."

"You're such a sap when you're drunk."

Jane grinned. "Yeah, but you like it." She knocked her shoulder against Darcy's. "I'm your best friend."

"No." Darcy shook her head. "You're my sister."

Jane blinked quickly. "Now, who's a sap?"

"Whatever." She turned her gaze upward once more. And with a hum, she said, "We're definitely going to have to call for help getting back down though."

Jane nodded. "Later."

Darcy smiled. "Later," she agreed.

* * *

**...**

* * *

It had been a long day. A long  _week_ , really. Darcy loved her job, she really did. But there were some days ~~weeks~~   ~~ _months_~~ where it was just completely overwhelming. Which was to blame for why she was under Jane's desk. (Bruce's was currently occupied, otherwise she would be soaking in the quiet over there)

That was where Steve found her, looking and feeling more tired than she ever had before.

He crouched down at the mouth of Jane's desk, half-smiling. "Rough day?"

Darcy tamped down on the immediate burn of her eyes. "DUM-E set Bruce on fire on Monday." Talk about the longest thirty seconds of her life, wrangling his lab coat off and jumping on it until the fire was out. Don't even get her started on FRIDAY's late activation of the fire sprinklers. She walked out of his lab looking like a drowned rat, a sad DUM-E following behind her, nudging her back with his claw, beeping apologies at her.

Steve nodded. "I heard."

"On Tuesday, Lab 12 set off a containment alarm." The whole day was lost after that, everybody was on lock down until well after regular work hours.

He winced sympathetically. "Decontamination showers are no picnic."

"Yeah, no kidding." She snorted. "Then Tony made FRIDAY call me Lady Nag of Nagsville all day Wednesday when I had him forcibly removed from his lab after a three-day stretch. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get people to take you seriously when you're being called that?"

Steve frowned. "I can talk to Pepper on Monday. HR has a filing cabinet dedicated just to him."

"I spilled my coffee yesterday.  _Three times_." Darcy's lower lip jutted out. "What a waste of whipped cream."

Steve sighed. "Whipped cream doesn't belong on coffee, but I'm sorry you dropped them."

"I broke a heel yesterday too. On my good heels." She sighs wistfully. "The ones that make my legs look like they're twenty-three again."

He rolled his eyes. "You're only twenty-nine."

"And I have a papercut. I have papercuts on top of papercuts." She held her hands out to him. "We're in a digital world, but my hands are stuck in the stone age... and under attack."

He smiled at her, knowing and gentle, and then he reached out. His hands swamped her wrists and tugged them closer. "Is kissing things better still a thing?"

Darcy swallowed as she croaked out,  _"Yes_."

He gave a short nod before he pressed a kiss to each and every tip of her fingers. It was a slow, lingering process. Or maybe it just felt that way. Maybe she just thought that he was taking his time pressing his lips to her fingers. Maybe it was just her that was mesmerized by the stretch of his thumb sliding up each of her fingers and his breath skimming her skin before his mouth found the tip. "Better?"

She nodded, her gaze still set on his mouth.

"Hungry?"

 _Starving_. But not in the way he probably meant. Blinking rapidly, she raised her eyes to meet his. "What'd you bring me?"

He grinned. "Come and see."

As he leaned back and stood, Darcy took a second to get her breathing under control and then crawled out. She took his hand as he helped her up and turned her attention to the take-out containers spread across her desk.

"The week is looking up."

* * *

**…**

* * *

"Hey, Miss Lewis, I put in a request for non-latex gloves last week and they're almost entirely gone. I'm the only one in the office that uses them. But I think Yani in Lab Nine has been taking them because they make their hands feel soft and—"

Darcy stared at Robert as she tossed a piece of popcorn into her mouth, an anti-stress sheet-mask on, and her new favorite soap opera playing in the background.

Bucky was next to her, wearing a deep moisturizing mask (" _Too much sun, my man, we gotta reverse the damage_."), and Sam sat on her other side, wearing a charcoal mask, slices of cucumber on his eyes (" _You eat one more of my cucumbers and the next thing I cut off is one of your fingers, Ice-Pop_.").

Sam didn't so much as flinch, but Bucky was pointing a knife at Robert, somehow looking no less dangerous even with a sheet-mask on.

Darcy frowned. "Please don't pee on my floor. It's carpet."

Robert's mouth hung open a beat before he turned a scared and confused look on Darcy.

With a sigh, she said, "I'll talk to Yani. Until then, there's extra non-latex gloves in Janey's lab. Check the top drawer of the desk."

Jerking his head in some form of a nod, Robert quickly fled.

Bucky waited a few seconds to be sure he was gone and then speared a piece of cucumber from Sam's plate.

"You wanna war?" Sam muttered, still looking the picture of relaxed.

Bucky smirked right before he bit down on the cucumber.

And Darcy wasn't sure  _how_ he did it, but the crunch that came out of that one bite sounded like it was in high-def.

Later, when Steve asked her what was on Bucky and Sam's faces while they duked it out in the gym, Darcy shrugged. "Everybody needs a spa day sometime."

* * *

**…**

* * *

Darcy lazed in the pool, sprawled out on top of purple flamingo-shaped floatie. She held a margarita in one hand, her feet submerged in the cool water.

Beside her, on a long, rectangular floatie, was Bruce. He wore green shorts, sunglasses, and a noticeable layer of sunblock. Atop his chest balanced his own margarita, sloshing at any quick movement. "It's quiet out here."

Darcy shrugged. "I circulated a notice that the pool was being cleaned so they'd stay away."

Bruce half-smiled. "All because I told you swimming with so many people made me nervous?"

She turned her head, her hair dipping into the water. "Anxiety sucks. I know coping skills and CBT help, but sometimes a good shortcut is all you need."

He hummed. "I should probably tell you not to go through all the trouble."

"Probably." She tipped her head up, soaking in the sun with a smile. "But who says I'll listen?"

A beat passed, and then another, before Bruce said, quite simply, "Thank you, Darcy."

She waved it off.

* * *

**…**

* * *

Darcy tapped a pen against her chin as she looked over an itemized list of supply requests from the labs. Jane's was written on a napkin smudged with evidence of the slice of chocolate chip banana bread Darcy had coerced her into eating that morning. She raised an eyebrow and turned her chair in Jane's direction. "Janey... You can't put in a request that I ' _get laid ASAP_.'"

Jane looked up, a marker in hand. "Why not?"

"Because that's not how it works, and also because I'm pretty sure it's an HR violation. Probably something about sexual harassment. Not to mention, Abel in Requests might take it as a personal invitation and I'd rather not.  _Ever_."

Jane rolled her eyes. "I knew it wouldn't get that far. Anyway, I think it would benefit the lab if you took my advice."

"Yeah? Or just you? Because don't think I didn't hear you ask Stark if he's had any luck with building a shrink ray." She stared at her knowingly. "You don't  _need_ a shrink ray and you are never  _getting_ a shrink ray."

Jane scowled. "You know, I really think if you got laid regularly you would be more open-minded to the benefits of being able to shrink any- and everything. Do you know how easy it would be to move supplies or pack up a facility or—"

"Shrink all of your enemies and keep them in an ant colony?"

Jane paused. "I made that threat  _one time!"_

"And I'll never forget it." She struck her pen across the page. "No getting laid and no shrink ray."

With a sniff, Jane returned to her work, muttering under her breath all the while.

* * *

**...**

* * *

Steve was late.

It was almost seven and Steve was usually there by five-thirty, six at the latest. The last time he'd been out on an unexpected mission, he'd texted to let her know he wouldn't be dropping by. Darcy was starting to feel a little pathetic. She had nothing left to do. No more paperwork to fill out or desks to organize. The lab was spic and span, in part because she'd had so much extra time with nothing to fill it. She wanted to look busy, like she wasn't just wasting her evening waiting on him to arrive. And ugh, she had it so bad. So ridiculously bad.

Jane was out with Ted. She was at least  _trying_  to recover from the mess of what happened with Thor. She was pulling herself together and moving forward. Meanwhile, Darcy was stuck in a confusing limbo. She liked Steve. Steve liked her. There was no doubt that they were friends. She just wasn't sure if they were  _more_ than that. If what sometimes felt like mutual flirting really  _was_ flirting. Or if maybe she was just reading too deep into totally friendly interactions. For all that she was confident, this was one aspect of her life that she stumbled a bit. She wished she had the balls to just ask him. But, well, he was him and she was her and what if he laughed? Not that he would intentionally try to hurt her feelings. At least, she didn't think he would.

He had to know what this looked like though, right? They spent so much time together. The coffee and texting and Cutthroat Kitchen Sunday was one thing. But it had become so much more than that. So much more than designated days to see each other. But still, reserving her every Friday night just for him was not normal friend behaviour. The fact that it was called ' _date_  night' should have clued him into that. But, here she was. Alone on a Friday night, waiting on someone she was pretty sure was not going to show up, looking like an idiot.

She glanced at the ceiling and bit her lip. Would it be a total invasion of privacy to just ask where he was? Maybe FRIDAY would let her know he was late. Maybe he ran into town for food and hit traffic. Maybe he forgot what day of the week it was and he'd be so,  _so_ sorry. Or maybe she had no right to ask and she should just accept that her usual Friday plans were a bust. Throw on some pajamas, turn on Netflix, and just veg. It'd been a long week. She deserved a quiet Friday every once in a while. Right?  _Right_.

Darcy stood from her chair and crossed the lab, ready to let FRIDAY know she could turn off the lights and lock it down behind her. "FRIDAY?"

" _Yes, Miss Lewis?"_

She paused. "Is… Would you be able to tell me where Steve Rogers is on the compound?"

The pause that followed was excruciatingly humiliating. She felt like Stark's AI could read her awkward feelings like a book and was about to tell her that no, she could not do that due to privacy settings or some such thing. Or maybe FRIDAY would snark at her and tell her she should just call Steve if she wanted to know where he was so bad. Or maybe—

" _Captain Rogers is currently located in the gym with Agent Romanoff. Would you like me to contact him? Is there an emergency he should be notified of?"_

"What?  _No!_ No, that's fine. It's okay. I just... I was just curious."

" _Very well_."

Swallowing tightly, she hurried to the door. "Lock the lab down, please, FRIDAY. We won't be in until Monday, so activate ' _Jane Foster— can't touch this_ ' protocol until 8 o'clock Monday morning."

" _Activating 'Jane Foster— can't touch this' protocol now_."

As the doors whooshed closed at her back, Darcy lingered in the hall a beat and then turned on her heel and walked toward the elevator.

_Agent Romanoff._

Darcy had never met the Black Widow. She'd seen her in passing, but they'd never talked. Like many of the Avengers, Darcy was just too low on the totem pole to rate a face-to-face. That was fine. It had never bothered her much before. Except, now she was thinking about how Natasha was insanely beautiful and lethal and a total badass. She was the kind of woman that guys like Steve Rogers ended up with, not lab managers. He was nice about it, and they had a pretty good friendship going. Or, at least, that was how Darcy saw it. She wasn't quite sure what it looked like from his perspective. He obviously had much more interesting things to do on a Friday night than spend it with her.

Not that she was boring company. Darcy was pretty awesome company, usually. She always had an interesting story to tell and she thought she was a pretty laid back, non-judgemental person. At least, she tried to be. It could get repetitive, she imagined. Hearing about the same work and the same people day in and day out. Obviously, she wasn't going out on super interesting spy missions every other week. For the most part, work and life outside of it was spent at the compound. Aside from the odd trip for stationary or manicures or work lunches, she didn't get out much. They were not-so-subtly discouraged from leaving too often, especially without an escort. Safety this and safety that. It was important,  _duh_ , but it was still isolating.

Don't get her wrong, because her life was pretty great, especially of late. Steve, Sam, and Bucky were new additions, but they were far from the only people she had to spend time with. It was just different.  _Steve_ was different. Darcy loved Janey. She'd go to the ends of the Earth for Jane, and beyond that too. But she kind of liked having someone else. Someone just to herself. Someone that made all those mushy, gushy feelings relevant again. Like they hadn't been since London and Ian and their short-lived post-world-saving romance. It was nice just to humor the thought, the idea, of having something, having someone. Suddenly, however, that didn't seem quite as achievable as it had a few hours ago.

Darcy returned to her suite, exchanged her work clothes for her favorite pajamas, and found a comedy on Netflix. No romance, no action, just comedy. It would suit her just fine.

* * *

**…**

* * *

Darcy skipped Cutthroat Kitchen Sunday. She wasn't even sure Steve showed up for it and she wasn't about to stoop to asking FRIDAY if he'd dropped by the common room. Instead, she spent Sunday with Jane, and she didn't regret a second of it.

"If we could just drop by the lab for an hour, maybe two, I  _know_ I could work it out. I was right on the edge of a breakthrough, I could feel it."

Darcy rolled her eyes. " _Nope_. We're picnicking. There is no science here." She shoved a sandwich into Jane's outstretched hand. "Eat."

"Science is everywhere," Jane muttered before tearing off a bite like a grumbling toddler.

"Not here it isn't. This is a science-free zone." Darcy leaned her back against the tree providing just the right amount of shade. They were on a hill that overlooked the compound, or at least part of it. It wasn't a particularly tall hill, but it was quiet and let them have some space from all the superheroes and field agents.

"Where'd you find a checker-print blanket anyway?"

"I put in a request for it."

"Specifically for picnics?" Jane raised an eyebrow. "Is this going to be a regular thing?"

"It should be." Darcy plucked a strawberry out from a container and bit off the end. "The world's a lot bigger than your lab. We should see more of it."

Jane sniffed. "I see plenty of the world. I've seen more worlds than just ours."

"Yeah, well, I haven't. And as much as I appreciate the security of living with the spandex crew, it's kind of nice to get out sometimes."

Jane unscrewed the cap from a bottle of water and took a long guzzle. Wiping her mouth on the sleeve of her shirt, she burped, and said, "We should go into town next week."

Darcy smiled slowly. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Jane shrugged. "See a movie, go antiquing, I don't know. Whatever you want to do."

Darcy snorted. "Antiquing?"

Jane grinned. "What? I thought you  _liked_ old things."

"Oh, ha-ha," she muttered. "Anyway, I think we can do better than antiquing. I'll do some digging, find something fun for us."

"All right." She paused. "I give you permission to remind future-Jane that I already said I'd do this, so you can definitely enact ' _can't touch this_ ' protocol to make me leave the lab."

"Oh, Janey… I  _always_ do." She tossed a grape at her. "You're a science menace and you have to be stopped… At least on weekends."

Jane rolled her eyes and tossed the grape in the air, catching it in her mouth.

* * *

**…**

* * *

Steve dropped by the lab early Monday with a cup of coffee and a cronut. Darcy wasn't sure if she was more surprised at the puppy-dog look he was giving her or the cronut. For a second, it just didn't compute. Had he ever eaten a cronut? Did she just look like the type of person who enjoyed cronuts? Was it on special or something? She wasn't looking a gift horse in the mouth, but it still left her with questions. She raised an eyebrow, hoping it might convey at least a few of them.

"I'm sorry about Friday. I was in the gym, I got in my head, I completely lost track of time." He thrust the coffee and cronut her way and Darcy was helpless to a smile.

"If extra time in the gym for you means I get treats, then cheers." She accepted his gifts, but placed them on her desk, and then fiddled with her fingers. "But seriously, you don't owe me your Fridays."

"I wouldn't say 'owe,' but I do like them. It's kind of nice to drop the shield and the expectations and just hang out." His expression turned earnest. "I... I just appreciate that you don't look at me like I'm the Captain. That... I guess, what I mean, is that I feel like Steve when I'm with you. And that's important to me."

Darcy cocked her head. "Aren't you always Steve?"

He half-smiled. "Not everybody thinks of it— of  _me_ — like that."

"No?"

"No." He ducked his head. "You know, when this all started, when I…  _became_ this, it all just sort of felt like some weird dog and pony show. It wasn't supposed to be like that. It was always supposed to be about helping people, fighting the good fight. But, when it was just me, when there was no chance to make more super-soldiers, I was useless. And then I ran head-first into battle, showed them that one man  _can_ do something, and it changed. But somewhere along the way, it felt like I lost myself. Like I became so much a figure or an ideal or a pipe dream that the guy behind the shield wasn't even a real person. And I get it. I get that sometimes we fight for monuments, for staples of what we want our world to be, and I do what I can to uphold that, but... I don't know. I try to keep people around me that don't see that. That aren't going to get caught up on titles and suits and..." He sighed. "It's just been weighing on my lately."

"I get it." Darcy rolled her eyes at herself. "Obviously not what it's like to have that kind of pressure on my shoulders. These pipes are more for carrying paperwork. But I get what you mean, about feeling like an outsider even when you're on the inside." She stared at him curiously. "What did you do before? What helped you cope?"

"In the beginning, Bucky, mostly. He, uh, he never let me forget who I was. But also, Peggy." His expression softened. "She... She knew me before the serum. Not long, but I think it made a difference. Made it so I wasn't just a shield or a gun or a soldier. I was... just Steve."

"That's pretty special."

"Yeah, it was."

Darcy half-smiled. "Well, I'm glad you don't feel like you have to put on an act for me. I think I might be a little offended if you did."

"Does this mean you're free this Friday? I found a Szechuan place that has pretty good reviews online."

"Look at you, a regular Yelper."

He rolled his eyes. "Hardly. I…" He trailed off for a moment, his gaze moving past her shoulder. "I'm still getting used to how far the internet reaches. There's something for everything. It's a little mind-boggling if I think about it too much."

"Yeah, it has that affect. Even on me, and I grew up with it."

He nodded, glanced at the wall, and said, "So, Szechuan? Friday?"

"Sure."

"Great." He leaned in then and Darcy felt her heart suddenly lurch up into her throat. In a good way. A totally good way. He kissed her cheek; soft and sweet. Or, it might've been. She might've spent her afternoon remembering how his bristly beard tickled her skin. Might've thought about how warm and minty fresh his breath was. Might've swooned a little over the woodsy scent of his cologne. Except that as Steve leaned back, his attention was elsewhere. And when she looked, she found Natasha Romanoff passing by, effortlessly drawing the eye.

Steve leaned back, his gaze still following Natasha. "I, uh… I should go." His voice was distant and distracted. "Have a good morning, Peg."

He was gone before Darcy could answer, purposely turning down the hallway in the direction Natasha had gone. And Darcy was left to stare at where he'd been, the last minute or so replaying in her head on a loop. She wasn't sure which part was worse, that he'd just called her 'Peg' or the sudden realization that every time he'd visited her, every time he went looking for something she couldn't see, was for Natasha.

Either way, that was definitely her entirely too hopeful heart on the floor, being stomped on repeatedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so glad to hear how excited everyone was for the first chapter... now i'm feeling a little intimidated that the second chapter won't stack up to that, however. so i hope it does! as i've said before, there's a lot of light hearted humor, but there is angst as well. it just took a little bit to get there. i wanted darcy to have a life and friends and to feel like she had carved out something all her own and was mostly happy with it. but bit by bit she also notices there's another part of her life that is slowly becoming steve shaped and as much as she tries to ignore or downplay it, it only seems to grow bigger. until she's pretty much ready to accept that maybe that's just where steve fits. until it doesn't seem like that's where steve wants to fit. that maybe he fits elsewhere with someone else. :( 
> 
> thank you all so much for reading, please try to leave a comment if you can!


	3. Chapter 3

**iii.**

An hour after Steve left, Darcy came to a very important conclusion.

Being compared to Peggy Carter was a compliment.

Not so much in context— that royally sucked— but in general, not the worst person to be mistaken for.  

On the shortlist of amazing women Darcy would be flattered to hold a candle to, Margaret “Peggy” Carter was pretty high up there. She ranked with the likes of Pepper Potts and Maria Hill. Friends of Darcy’s, sure, but also accomplished and phenomenal women in their field of choice. Not to mention Helen and Jane, who had each dominated their fields as well. Now that she thought about it, Darcy really surrounded herself with some truly successful and cool women. Go her for gravitating toward awesome lady empowerment.

By hour two, however, Darcy found herself annoyed.

While being compared to the awesomeness of Peggy was flattering, it was also dismissive. She _wasn’t_ Peggy. She was never going to _be_ Peggy. In fact, other than a few similar physical traits, she and Peggy were vastly different people. Peggy was a kick ass agent who had co-created the original SHIELD, the intention of which was obviously far from what HYDRA’s poisoned touched had morphed it into. In comparison, Darcy ran a daycare for scientists. One was just not like the other.

So, was it the physical aspect? Was it that she looked like the first great love of Steve’s life that had him orbiting her? Because that was... Well, it was sad, for sure. But it was also unfair. How was Darcy supposed to stack up against a ghost? She couldn’t. Simple as that. Darcy may be a lot of things, but she was never going to be a replacement.

Hour three asked her to remove her feelings from the situation.

Steve had been talking about Peggy right before Natasha had caught his eye. Maybe it was a simple slip of the tongue. Or maybe her resemblance to Peggy had more to do with the whole ‘seeing beyond the shield’ thing he’d been talking about. That she treated him like Steve instead of the Captain. That wasn’t a bad thing. Sure, it hurt to be called by the wrong name, but if it was an honest mistake, she could forgive him that.

By the fourth hour, she had accepted that calling her ‘Peg’ was probably just a slip of the tongue. The Natasha issue was different, however.

This wasn’t Darcy’s first rodeo with being a tool in someone else’s machinations. She’d hated it then and she wouldn’t stand for it now. From where she stood, it looked a lot like Steve had been using each interaction with Darcy to get Natasha’s attention. Why else would he always look for her when they were together? Why would be purposely kiss Darcy’s cheek, when he’d never done that before, just seconds after spotting Natasha going by? It just didn’t make sense otherwise.

Which meant that Steve didn’t like Darcy. In fact, there was a very real possibility that he’d never liked her. And that...

That stung.

Darcy had spent a lifetime trying to fend off her own insecurities. Like everyone, she had them. Her body was too curvy, her chest too large, the gap between her teeth too wide. Her nose wasn’t straight, her hair was constantly rebelling, and her voice had that high, nasally pitch that always made her cringe when she heard it back. She had big feet for her height, stubby fingers, and sometimes she hated how full her lips were. Her eyes had bugged out so much as a child that she’d earned the nickname ‘frogger." And when it came to smarts, well, she was never going to be an astrophysicist.

After twenty-nine years of self-hate and self-love, these days, she loved more than she hated. She loved her curves even if it made shopping a nightmare. She loved her teeth even if it wasn’t traditionally pretty. She tried different hairstyles and products and cuts until she found something she liked. She painted her nails to pamper fingers that were long enough, if a little short. She learned that being people smart was its own skill set. And she talked louder rather than quieter. Until, eventually, those insecurities didn’t trail her every step. She still had moments. Before big events or dates or special occasions where she nitpicked the way she looked, second-guessed an outfit or a haircut or how she’d done her make up. But, for the most part, she’d grown confident in herself.

In its own way, having Steve’s attention had been a boon to her former teenage-self and the rollercoaster of self-esteem she had an all-access pass to. Here was this smart, handsome, amazing guy and he seemed _so_... Sometimes he looked at her and she really felt wanted. She enjoyed his company. The way he ducked his head when he laughed. That smile she could pull out of him that took a little extra effort but was so worth it. And he made her laugh. He made her feel seen.

Maybe the friendship was real. Maybe it was just kicked up a notch when Natasha walked by. Maybe Darcy had been right all along; her friendship circle went far and wide but when it came to dating, she was in the kiddie pool and he was leaping off the highest diving board. Then again, did she want to be friends with someone who could use her like that? Who could turn it on and off like a switch and saw her as a means to an end?

She felt stupid. That was the crux of it. Regardless of what he did or felt or who he directed those feelings at, she felt so ridiculously dumb for getting her hopes up.

That was what hurt more than anything. That she’d stepped out of her comfort zone for a moment and let herself indulge in the idea of what they could be, never realizing that she was never the one. She was never going to be the one. Not for him. Maybe it was Peggy or Natasha or someone else entirely, but it wasn’t her.

By the end of the day, it all just swallowed her up. The insecurity and uncertainty, the humiliation and doubt, the distinct feeling that she’d been played for a fool but had no idea who had done the fooling. Was it her, for expecting more than what was offered? Or was it him, for seeing and acting on an opportunity? Or was she just jumping to conclusions about the whole damn thing? She wasn’t sure. And she hated that.

* * *

  **...**

* * *

 

Darcy was drunk. She was also underneath Jane’s desk, clutching a bottle of champagne.

Jane climbed under the desk and sat facing Darcy, knees drawn up to her chest. “I’m sorry.”

Darcy shook her head. “Not your fault.”

“I encouraged you. I told you he liked you.” Jane sighed. “I should’ve left it alone.”

She handed her champagne over with a false grin. “You and me both, Janey.”

Jane took a long drag, winced, and then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Coughing, she said, “How much was this? Did you get it from the commissary?”

“Cheap. And never mind.” Darcy made grabby hands until Jane passed it back. “I didn’t want to waste real money on some jerkface.”

“He _is_ a jerkface!” Righteous anger flared across Jane’s face. “A patriotic, self-serving, manipulative, _dick-_ jerkface-asshole!”

Darcy hiccupped on a laugh. “Yeah.” Her mouth fell. “Except not really.”

“Darce…” Jane wiggled closer, leaning against Darcy’s legs. “He hurt you.”

“I got my feelings hurt. But…” She swiped at her eyes when they felt just a little too wet. “That’s on me. I got too invested. I started seeing something that wasn’t there.”

“ _No_. No, you didn’t. He was here all the time. And he reserved every Friday and Sunday just for you. What was that? What did that even mean?”

Darcy’s gaze fell to the bottle as she tapped her fingers along the side. “Did I ever tell you about Jackson?”

Jane’s brow furrowed. “No. Who’s he?”

Darcy sniffled and rubbed at her nose. “I was sixteen. Didn’t have a lot of friends. I mean, I’ve always been friendly, I try to get along with everyone, but I’m not for everyone. And that’s fine. I get it. Anyway, there was this guy— Jackson—and he was… Well, hot. ‘Cause I was a teenager and that’s the only way to describe it. But… He was more than that. He was just so _funny_ and smart and totally out of my league. We had a few classes together, but we never really talked. It was definitely an appreciate-from-afar kind of thing. But then, one day, he just dropped by my desk, said he liked these stupid doodles I was drawing. I almost swallowed my tongue, Jane, I swear. The full force of that face nearly knocked me over. It was kind of awesome.”

Darcy smiled, and Jane smiled back. 

“Anyway, he kept coming over and talking to me and flirting and… I was so excited. Like, oh my god, the guy I’ve liked forever likes me back. I was ready to start hyphenating our last names and planning for prom.” She snorted. “And then a few weeks in, we were talking at my locker, and he was touching my hand, and I was trying not to drown him in sweat, when I realized that Tanya Slater was looking at us… Tanya was popular and beautiful and basically everything I wasn’t. And I realized that she wasn’t the only one looking. That Jackson was looking back. And finally, like a brick to the head, I realized what was going on.” She took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. “Jackson only talked to me in the classes we shared with Tanya. He only came over to my locker when Tanya was at hers. He was doing it to see if she’d get jealous. And like an idiot, I didn’t even say anything. A week later, they were together, and he never talked to me again.”

Jane stared at her, the corners of her mouth turned down. “Hey, he was an idiot. And so is Captain Asshole.”

“Yeah. Maybe.” Darcy laughed, the sound thick and watery. “But so am I.”

“No. Darcy, you deserve someone awesome. Someone just as smart and kind and caring as you are. If he can’t see that, if he was doing all of this just to get someone else’s attention, then he doesn’t know what he’s missing out on. And that really sucks for him, because you are so, _so_ amazing.” Jane reached out and covered Darcy’s hands, knocking the bottle sideways. “Look at me.”

Darcy raised red-rimmed, gushy eyes at Jane, her chin wobbling. “What’s so wrong with me?” She shook her head. “I know I don’t have six PhD’s and I can’t kill someone with my thighs, but I— I have _good_ qualities. I am an expert Poptart toaster. And I’m a kick-ass lab manager. I make sure Bruce is always stocked up on tea— even the really rare, expensive, imported shit. And I keep Stark from blowing us all up every other week. And I— I’m a good _friend_. Right?”

Jane pulled on her hands, yanking Darcy right into her arms with more strength than her slight frame suggested. “You’re the best friend. You take care of all of us. You listen when we’re struggling and you kick our asses when we get down on ourselves. Darcy, you’re the best person I know. I don’t know what I’d do without you. And I don’t just mean because you make me nap and eat and shower. I mean that this whole crazy adventure wouldn’t be half as great if you weren’t here sharing it with me. The lab, the science, that’s one thing. But you keep me human. You anchor me.”

Darcy smiled. “Are you saying I’m your person?”

Jane huffed a laugh. “ _Yes_. You, Darcy Lewis, are my person. And in true Cristina Yang fashion, you should know that Steve Rogers is not the sun. _You are_.”

Turning her face down, she buried it against Jane’s shoulder. She took a deep breath, let it out on a sigh, and decided, well, who knew better than an astrophysicist with more PhD’s than she could shake a stick at? She was still hurt, and it was going to stay that way for a while, but, she would cope. She would grow and move on and even if Steve never talked to her again, it was okay. Because Darcy had Jane, and Jane had Darcy, and even if the world imploded tomorrow, that could be enough for today.

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

Ducking Steve was surprisingly easy. He ended up getting called out of the country for most of the week. Bucky Barnes, however, was not as easily avoided.

One minute, Darcy was walking alone down the hallway, en route to Bruce’s lab to stock up on his anti-stress tea, and the next she had a 3 o’clock shadow. He kept pace with her easily; he was probably slowing down to meet her much shorter stride.  He also had two cups of Starbucks coffee in his hand, one of which—the one he handed her—was labeled _‘darby_.’ What the hell kind of name even was Darby? His, however, was labeled _‘bricky_.’ So, who was she to complain?

“What are the odds yours has whipped cream too?”

“High.” He tossed a knife in the air, letting it flip before he caught it again. It should have been scary— she saw Robert and Kailisha in the labs on either side of them duck and cover— but after seeing a man hosed down of spaghetti, with Caesar salad clinging to his previously L’Oreal-level hair, after having him sit perfectly still while she applied a moisturizing mask, after watching him get upset on a fictional soap opera character’s behalf, it was hard to be intimidated. Besides, the graceful way the knife moved across his knuckles was enviable for someone who regularly suffered papercuts and bitched every time.

“Have you eaten?”

Her gaze left the knife and found his face. “Why? Is it time for your second breakfast?”

His mouth kicked up.

Delight warmed her chest. “You’re a Rings fan, huh?”

He glanced at her. “Brought The Hobbit with me to Basic. Lost it somewhere in the field. When I woke up, Steve had a list a mile long on what he’d read and watched to catch up. First thing I bought was The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Read ‘em all twice over.”

“Makes sense. Not as much of a culture shock as the rest, I bet.” She rolled her coffee cup between her hands. “What about the movies? How’d they stack up?”

Bucky stumbled to a stop, forcing Darcy to as well. She turned to face him, confused. But he was staring at her with wide eyes. “Movies?”

She grinned slowly. “All right, you and me, after work, we’ll throw on the first one over a bowl of popcorn.” She paused. “We each get our own bowls and you keep your grubby hands off mine.”

He chuckled. “Deal.”

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

[Monday, 1:23 pm] — _Hey, we got called out unexpectedly. I’ll let you know when we get there. **[[smile]]**_

[Monday, 5:01 pm] — _Rain is slowing us down. What are the odds Thor is in-bound, you think? **[[lightning bolt]]**_

[Monday, 7:49 pm] — _Tried calling Buck earlier, but he’s not answering. You mind checking in on him?_

[Monday, 7:50 pm] _— I know he thinks I’m mother-henning, but I just want to know he’s doing okay..._

[Tuesday, 12:16 am] — _Just landed. **[[eye roll]]** Tony’s already arguing about the plan._

[Tuesday, 8:35 am] — _Good morning! **[[smiling sun]]** _

[Tuesday, 8:37 am] _— It’s raining where I am. How about you?_

Darcy stared at her phone, thumbed the delete button on the thread, and turned it over, so the screen wasn’t visible. Eventually, Steve would start wondering why she wasn’t answering. She considered just telling him she was busy. She was, of course. She always was. But it still felt like a lie. A way to avoid the inevitable. Because she had to talk to him, didn’t she? She couldn’t just pretend he didn’t exist. That was hardly professional and really not sustainable. Not in an environment like this. People were bound to ask questions.

But, for the time being, she didn’t feel like dealing with that. She didn’t want to talk or explain or ask questions. She just wanted to forget.

Leaving her desk, she made her way down the hall, only to find Risha filling a bucket with a suspicious neon orange liquid. Darcy sighed. “What’s that for?”

“What, this?” Risha looked from her to the bucket and back. She pasted on an innocent grin. “Science project?”

“What kind of science project?”

“A... sciencey one?”

“Risha, were you going to pull the classic bucket-on-top-of-the-door prank?”

Risha blinked. “I can’t answer that on the basis that it could incriminate me.”

Shaking her head, Darcy said, “Put the bucket down.”

Risha pouted. “But I made it myself and I wanted to test its elasticity.”

“And there was no way to do that without using it on a co-worker?”

“...not a _fun_ way.”

Darcy stared at her, mentally writing a request for a pay raise. She was not appreciated enough, frankly.

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

[Tuesday, 1:01 pm] — _Hey... I’m a little worried my texts aren’t getting through?_

[Tuesday, 4:29 pm] — _Service out here isn’t great, otherwise I’d call. Could use a friendly voice right now._

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

The Lord of the Rings movies were long. They didn’t always feel that way when she could really get into the adventure of it all, but having seen them a handful or two since they came out, the original magic wasn’t quite as potent for her. Bucky, however, was _enthralled_. It was kind of endearing. She found herself wondering if Steve had been the same. If he’d stepped out of the ice and into a world of advancement and was just wowed by everything around him. Then she remembered that just days after his return, he was probably fighting aliens in Times Square. There wasn’t a lot of time to be wowed when aliens reared their fugly heads.

Bucky though, despite all the trauma he’d suffered, seemed keen on enjoying the good things this new time period had to offer. He was mesmerized by the CGI, which, for its time, really was quite spectacular, and by the special effects make-up that made the orcs seem so realistic. It kind of relit her love for the trilogy to see someone truly enjoy it for the first time.

That said, she was getting a sore butt from sitting for so long.

So, while he was on the edge of his seat, hand stuck deep in the popcorn bowl, Darcy was doing lunges. Not particularly good or well-balanced lunges, but they still fell well within the parameters of a lunge.

“What’re you doing?”

She tipped her head to the side to see Bucky staring at her, his brows arched. “What’s it look like I’m doing?”

“Losing a fight with gravity.”

She rolled her eyes. “My muscles were cramping up. Too much sitting.”

He hummed. “This how you usually work out?”

“When I’m not beginner’s planking, yes.” She grinned. “You must absolutely hate my form.”

He snorted. “What form?”

Darcy rolled her eyes. “All right, guy whose muscles are serum enhanced, keep the criticism to a minimum.”

“Not criticizing.” He leaned back against the couch, his arms crossed loosely. “Just would’a thought, with a job like yours, living here, you’d have basic training, at least.”

“My basic training was in the field, against Norse gods and Dark Elves.”

He blinked at her. “Lot of stretching involved?”

“Little bit."

“Got a taste for it and gave up, huh?”

She sent him a flat look. “I recognize that you have some pretty beefy boobs of your own, but mine make running actually difficult.”

Bucky sighed and held up his hands. “All I’m saying is that you could benefit from some training.”

“And all _I’m_ saying is no, thank you.”

Shaking his head, he let his gaze wander back to the movie. “You’re Pippin.”

Darcy let out an outraged gasp and turned so abruptly that she toppled, which she was pretty sure had only proven his point. On her knees, leaning against the table, she stared him down and said, “I’m Gimli, you sonofabitch.”

* * *

**...**

* * *

 

Wednesday morning saw Darcy making her way from lab to lab for a quick check in to make sure nothing and no one was on fire. A light on in Tony’s lab had her slowing down curiously. Seeing as he was off-site, Avenging, she made her way to the doors with not a little apprehension. The rich, warm scent of very expensive coffee was thick on the air and Darcy paused, closed her eyes, and just breathed it in. Sure, she was hipster enough that Starbucks usually fulfilled her coffee cravings, but Tony always had the best on hand. It wasn’t Tony who was brewing it, however.

Sprawled out on the couch, an arm over his face, was Rhodey.

“Shouldn’t you be half-way around the world, shooting up bad guys right about now?”

Rhodey moved his arm and lazily opened one eye. “Can a guy take a break once in a while?”

“Sure. Just didn’t think you were the type to bench yourself.” She crossed the floor and took a seat on the arm of the couch. “Guess I’m not used to people who can self-manage.”

Rhodey snorted. “Done all right so far, think I can manage a few more years.” He shifted around, tucking his arm behind his head. “Place seems extra quiet without the team around though.”

“Yeah.” She bit down on a smile. “No Maria to flirt with. You must be going through withdrawal.”

He half-grinned. “Something like that. We’ve been texting though.”

Darcy thought of her own phone, tucked in her pocket, a series of unanswered texts either deleted or awaiting deletion. “Yeah? Does that mean you’ve finally nailed down a day and time for a real date?”

“Still working at it. I had to put a lot of work into just getting past that stone-face of hers. But it was worth it. Smile like that, deserves to be seen more.”

“All right, now you’re getting sappy.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m totally aware of how awesome she is. No need to sell me on it.”

“You asked.” Grinning, he rolled himself off the couch and made his way to the coffee machine. He pulled out two mugs and filled them each. “How about you? Gotta be missing a few familiar faces yourself.”

Darcy looked away. “Wouldn’t mind if Bruce and his zen was around. The Lab War they want me to think has ended is only getting started and I think I could use a little meditation.”

“Just Bruce then?” Rhodey’s brow furrowed. “Thought you and Cap were getting close.”

Darcy hummed. “Is that the buzz in the halls? This place is such a magnet for gossip.”

“I’ve heard things.” He shrugged. “Try not to feed into any of it, myself.”

“Smart.” She pushed off the couch as she accepted the mug from him. “Anyway, I need to drop by HR and see how threatening I can be to the squibs before it’s considered crossing a professional line.”

“Sure.” He took a sip of his coffee and then raised his mug in goodbye. “Hey, you mind if I hang out here a while longer?”

She waved. “Nope, go for it. It’s kind of nice to walk by and know nothing’s going to blow up.” She paused in the threshold of the door. “Seriously, don’t blow anything up.”

Rhodey smirked. “I’ll try my best.”

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

The pool was decidedly less zen without Bruce around. Darcy floated in the center, staring up at the ceiling of open window panels, letting in shafts of warm sunlight. She was feeling introspective. Her usual verve for life was feeling particularly un-verveful. She just kept playing the whole thing over in her head, wondering where it all went wrong. They started off in that awkward pre-friendship, acquaintances stage. They graduated to the occasional coffee, with Steve seeming to seek her out. Then came Cutthroat Kitchen and take-out. Then it was like the dam broke, the seal on acquaintance versus friends had dissolved. They were friends. _Good_ friends. And there were moments where it seemed like maybe they were more than that. Maybe they were on the verge of something different. As much as she’d tried not to read into them, Jane was right. There was a flirtation, a suggestion, an implication.

And kissing her fingers, riddled with papercuts as they were, that felt intimate. It felt like a line had finally been crossed.

Only now the line was very firmly in place, at least on her end, and they were standing on opposite sides. Because she couldn’t do this. She _wouldn’t_ do this.

She might like him. ~~She definitely liked him.~~ But she wasn’t going to be a pawn, not for anyone.

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

[Wednesday, 10:51 am] — _Bucky says he’s getting my texts but I haven’t heard from you since I left..._

[Wednesday, 10:55 am] — _He mentioned you guys are watching The Lord of the Rings movies? I didn’t know they were made into films._

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

While Bucky was enraptured with all things The Two Towers, Darcy was admiring Legolas’ perfect fishtail braids, wondering if he did them himself. In the midst of war, was he just sitting around the fire, making sure his hair was perfectly coiffed for the occasion? She wasn’t complaining, exactly. His technique was enviable. She hadn’t done a fishtail braid in ages… Her gaze fell to the mane of pretty hair, right there at her disposal, as Bucky sat on the floor in front of the couch, his knees hugged to his chest and his eyes unblinkingly set on the TV screen.

“Hey,” she said.

He grunted.

“You know... You’d look good with a few elven braids of your own”

He blinked, glanced at her, and said, “Had a few in Wakanda.”

“And...?”

He shrugged. “Didn’t hate it.”

Her mouth inched up. “So... would you say you’d be open to having them now?”

He sighed; long, loud, and exasperated. “If I let you braid my hair, you gonna let me watch my movie in peace?”

Darcy grinned. “Absolutely.”

Rolling his eyes, he waved a hand, clearly giving her free rein, to do as she pleased. With a little noise of triumph, she hopped off the couch. “Stay here.” With that, she raced off. Twenty minutes later, she returned, huffing for breath, carrying a hairbrush, a comb, and a handful of elastics.

Bucky didn’t so much as glance at her.

Taking up position directly behind him, she crossed her legs under her and left her tools in her lap. “Okay. I’m going to touch you now.”

Bucky hummed.

Darcy started with the brush; she ran it through his hair carefully, pausing whenever she found a snag. She would work it out with her fingers instead of how she would have with her own hair. She would’ve just torn the brush through her own hair, no matter how much it pulled or tugged, too impatient for anything else. But Bucky had had enough pain in his life, and this was supposed to be something nice. It took longer, but it was worth it. When she was sure his hair was officially tangle-free, that was when she reached for her comb. She planned to do a braid on either side, right above his ears, that met at the back, where the top of his hair would meet with the braids to form a half-ponytail.

Darcy worked slowly. She used her comb to separate off the hair she needed and pushed the rest atop his head and out of her way. She expected him to tense up. To flinch or pull away if he felt uncomfortable. While they’d spent enough time together that she was pretty sure he didn’t consider her a threat, this was a little more friendly than usual.

She was half-way through the first braid when he cleared his throat. “Kids used to braid my hair for me.”

She didn’t pause in her braiding, but she did turn her head to see his face better. “In Wakanda?”

He nodded, but just barely. “Used to call me the White Wolf.” There was a fondness to his voice now; soft and reminiscent.

“Not a terrible moniker, I guess.”

He snorted. “Better ‘an The Winter Soldier.”

“What was it like there?”

“Beautiful.” He let out a wistful sigh. “Hot. Had a sun burn every day, but it’d clear up by night fall. Used to cut wood and watch after the goats. Just... Passing time, helping where I could. Didn’t have my arm then.”

“Did you like it?”

He paused for a moment. Darcy used it to tie off the braid before moving to the other side, shifting the leftover hair back over. “Was easier there. Felt like I blended in better. Still stood out, hard not to, but... People didn’t spook as much there.”

“Hard to spook over a one-armed white guy when their king is a guy in a cat suit.”

He grinned, his eyes ducking. “Cat suit’s got some sharp claws.”

Darcy hummed. She watched the braid come together, bit by bit. “So, the kids liked you?”

“They thought I was funny.”

“On purpose?”

He snorted. “I was weird to them. Grumpy all the time. Woke up a few times to them poking me with sticks.”

“That’s one way to make friends.” She tied off the second braid and then reached up, finger combing the rest of his hair, drawing it back. His eyes were closed now, and she smiled at the serenity there. “Still with me?”

“Mm-hmm.” He leaned back, his shoulders meeting her knees. “My ma used to do this.”

“Braid your hair?”

“Nah, that was Becca, my sister. Ma used to run her fingers through my hair though, tell me it was getting too long, mostly. Sometimes though, when she was missing my dad or just feelin’ down, she’d do it then. Made her feel better, I guess. Thought about that a lot when I was in Europe, following Steve around. Never miss your mother as much as when you’re at war.”

Darcy let her fingers run through his hair longer than necessary, hoping it was soothing. “She must’ve been proud of you.”

“Yeah.” He scoffed. “Guess I disappointed her in the end.”

“I seriously doubt that.” She drew his hair together, each braid meeting at the centre, and then she braided it all together and tied the tail off. “Your mother knew who you were, Bucky. Beyond the serum or the brainwashing. She raised you and loved you. The only one to blame, the only one that should be ashamed, is HYDRA.”

A few seconds passed before he rasped a strangled, "Yeah.”

Combing her fingers through the last half of his hair, loose under the braids, she dropped her hands to his shoulders and squeezed. “How’s that feel?”

He nodded. “Good.”

Her gaze skittered to the movie, more than halfway through now. “If you were Maria, I’d be painting your nails next. Toes too if your week really sucked.”

He tipped his head back to look at her, a faint smile pulling at the corner of his lips. He looked... comfortable. Relaxed in a way she didn’t see a lot when they were walking around the facility. But here, when it was just them and Peter Jackson’s best on the screen, he let himself stand down, and it was kind of amazing. “You remind me of my sister.”

“Yeah?” She grinned. “I’ve never had a brother, but if I did, I guarantee I’d’ve braided his hair and painted his nails too.”

He snorted. “These nails ain’t seen color since 1941... Becca tried out a plum color. Didn’t look too bad.”

“I can take a hint.” She winked. “Note to self: bring plum polish to tomorrow’s movie night.”

Amused, he rolled his eyes, and turned back to the TV. She took that as his unspoken agreement that manicures were on tomorrow’s itinerary.

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

The following morning saw Darcy sitting in Jane’s lab, under the full force of Jane’s ‘reality check’ face.

"Is making friends with the Winter Soldier the best idea?" Jane stared at Darcy from her seat on top of her desk, her legs crossed under her, three pencils in her hair, clutching a bowl-sized mug of coffee.

Darcy sighed. "Probably not." She reached out and poked a cupcake he’d left her for. She wasn’t sure when, or how, he’d gotten by without her seeing, but there it was. "We were already kind of friends before the whole Steve thing blew up... And I don't really like the idea of shutting him down. Can't blame him because Steve doesn't want my sparkling wit to share his bed." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, it's not a big deal. We're just a couple of hobbits headed for Isengard, and once we get there, I'm sure his two favorite superheroes will be back and then he’ll be busy with them.” She frowned. “Once this whole Steve thing gets cleared up, he’ll get them in the divorce, and it’ll be no more soap operas or spa days or cupcakes."

Jane frowned. "That's their loss."

Darcy turned an amused look on her friend. "You were just telling me not to be his friend."

"Because I'm trying to protect you!" Jane took a deep breath and let it out on a long sigh. "Where Bucky Barnes goes, so goes Steve Rogers' nation. That way just leads to more heartache."

"I know." Darcy pursed her lips. "I _know_. I just... Look, me and Bucky will finish our little movie marathon and then I'll put a kibosh on any and all interaction with the Wonder Boys in future. FYI though, he scares the hell out of the other scientists and I think it's rubbing off on me a little, because yesterday I asked Clark where his daily report was, and you know how he is about always putting it in as late as humanly possible, but he literally had it ready before I could even get the question out." She paused for effect. "It was laminated. I was a little proud."

Jane rolled her eyes. "You don't need Bucky Barnes to put the fear of God in anyone. You can be plenty scary on your own."

"Gee, thanks, Janey."

"Just saying." With a shrug, she buried her face against her mug and was lost to the euphoria that was coffee.

Darcy's gaze wandered back to the vanilla cupcake with pink, strawberry icing on top.

One more night, one more movie, and then she'd _c'est la vie_ the whole thing. It was for the best.

* * *

**...**

* * *

 

[Thursday, 3:06 am] — _You’re probably really busy and I’m overreacting, but... You’d tell me if I did something wrong, right?_

* * *

**...**

* * *

 

“Are you okay?” Pepper stared at Darcy curiously. “You seem more... subdued than usual.”

Darcy shrugged. “I’m fine. Just tired.” She poked at her chicken parm. “Alex in Lab 5 built a glitter bomb. Caught her right before she set the timer, but... _still_. I had to put out a lab-wide notice that any staff found in possession of glitter would be written up for psychological torture...” Her eyes narrowed. “It gets everywhere, and you can never get it out... That’s liable to drive a few nerds crazy.”

Pepper smiled. “Sounds eventful.”

“Yeah, it was something.” She sighed. “Sometimes I miss the good ol’ days, when the only thing I had to worry about was whether Jane had showered or slept or opened another wormhole—”

Pepper choked on her wine. “Another?”

“—but now I’m managing a whole floor and you’d be surprised at how devious some of them are. Honestly, if any ever go dark side, we might have a real problem on our hands.”

Humming, Pepper sat back in her seat, and smoothed out a napkin. “Do you think any of them will?”

Darcy paused and then leaned forward. “Okay, just between me and you, I have two lists. One of who I think _could_ go rogue, and another of who would be the most formidable if they _did_ go rogue.”

“Who tops each list?”

“Well, Robert could definitely pull an Evil Scientist and ditch us…” Darcy’s lips pursed and her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “But Risha is the smartest. If she ever switches sides, I’m heading right for the bomb shelter.”

“It’s not a bomb shelter.”

“It’s underground, it has food to last for months, and it’s built to withstand nuclear war.”

After a long pause, Pepper wondered, “How many can fit inside?”

Darcy grinned. “As if I’d duck and cover without my favorite ladies to help rebuild the world after-the-fact.”

With a fond roll of her eyes, Pepper said, “Just ladies?”

“I would definitely save The Rock. Dwayne Johnson is the kind of guy who would raise good, respectable men in the new world.”

Pepper hid a smile behind her wine glass. “I won’t argue there.”

* * *

**...**

* * *

 

Darcy took full credit for introducing Bucky to the wonders of popcorn seasoning. At least until he put an excess of dill pickle on one side and cheddar jalapeno on the other. She wasn't entirely sure if he liked it or he was just doing it so nobody else would eat it. Which was ridiculous, because they were the only two people in the common room, and she had her own bowl. Regardless, whenever she scrunched her face up, he grinned, so she was pretty sure he was just a troll willing to sacrifice his tastebuds for a joke.

Darcy tossed her phone aside, glanced at the TV screen that was now playing the credits to Return of the King, and said, "Okay, I've come to a conclusion. I know which hobbit you are."

"Hobbit?" He scoffed. "What if I wanted to be Stryder? Or one of Legolas' distant cousins?"

She snorted. "Nope. You're a hobbit."

"I swear, doll, if you call me Smeagol..."

Her head tipped back as she laughed. "No. But if you were, the ring would be Steve, and Sam would be that guy Smeagol drowned."

Bucky rolled his eyes. "All right, which one am I really?"

She grinned, happy that he was going along with her. "Sam."

" _Sam?_ I'm not even Frodo?"

"Nope." She lifted her chin. "You're Sam. _Po-tay-to._ "

His mouth screwed up. "The hell did I do to deserve that?"

She sighed and shook her head. "Samwise Gamgee is a loyal hobbit. He follows Frodo the whole way. Almost drowns trying to get to him. Suffers nearly as much PTSD and trauma. Barely, _but does_ , reject the ring's power. He was literally ready to die to help his friend and save everybody else."

Bucky stared at her a long beat. "You sure Stevie ain't Samwise? Frodo's the one that gives in. Doesn't happen 'til the very end, but you can see the moment he can't take it anymore." His gaze fell, a grim look crossing his face. "Becomes everything he never wanted to be."

Darcy considered it a moment. "Maybe you're right."

He looked up abruptly, mid-flinch. "Yeah?" His voice was hoarse, thick, and not a little wounded.

"Frodo got sucked into a war because of his uncle, but he took it on with the best intentions. There was no guarantee he'd survive, but he accepted the mission anyway. He was willing to sacrifice himself so the rest of his friends could keep going. And in the end, when he was barely a shell of himself anymore, after everything the ring put him through, after starving and walking endlessly, never sure if his friends were alive or if he'd ever see home again, he had a moment of weakness. He falls apart and he loses a finger and he hates himself for it. But he also gets there in the end. He doesn't come home the same happy hobbit he'd been, but that’s okay. He makes it. And he gets to live out his days surrounded by warmth and beauty."

Bucky ground his teeth together, before finally looking up and meeting her eyes, his own damp with a sheen of unshed tears. "I don't know if I'm livin' out my days just yet. I've got a few fighting years left in me."

"As long as it's what you want, go for it."

He let out a cracked laugh. "Still learning that part. Been a long time since I had a choice."

Darcy nodded. "Is that why you skipped this week's mission?"

Bucky leaned deeper into the couch. "Just needed a break. Seems like every time I'm starting to settle in, things go wrong. Asked Steve if I could sit this one out and he went for it." He shrugged. "Besides, if I'd gone, I wouldn't be here, watchin' my favorite books play out on a big screen. Used to be you could only see somethin' like this at the pictures. Can't believe everybody's got one in their living room now."

Darcy smiled. "Technology's come a long way. Movies too, I guess. These ones are better than the Hobbit trilogy. I wasn't a fan, personally."

He whipped around to stare at her. "They made the Hobbit too?" He paused, his brow furrowed. "Did you say trilogy?"

Darcy shook her head. "That way leads to frustration, my friend."

His gaze fell away and then a determined look filled his face. "Show me."

And that was how Darcy spent an entire work night sitting in the common room, listening to Bucky Barnes rant about all the ways the Hobbit movies were _wrong wrong wrong_ and never should have been a trilogy and who the hell was Tauriel and what had they done to Legolas' character and—

Anyway, it was worth it. Even if she had to drink her weight in coffee to get through the work day. It would totally be _worth it_. Because Bucky Barnes— sharpshooting, assassin extraordinaire— was a freaking nerd. And it was kind of awesome.

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

Darcy stared at the too-bright screen of her phone, her eyes scratchy as she sat on the edge of her bed.

[Thursday, 11:12 am] — _If everything goes according to plan, I should be back tomorrow. Szechuan, right?_

She thumbed the message until the bright red square said ‘Delete.’ She tapped it, turned her phone over, and fell face-first into her bed.

* * *

**...**

* * *

 

"Please tell me you're not crushing on Bucky Barnes now, too."

Darcy rolled her eyes. "Men and women can be friends, Janey. Anyway, it's not like that. And not like when I said that about Steve either. Bucky's great, but I'm not interested romantically. Also, I'm pretty sure he has enough on his plate without adding romance."

"I just don't want you to drop Steve and move on to his best friend." Jane eyed her worriedly. "It hasn't even been a week, you're not over him yet."

"No, but I will be. Today is the first official day of 'Steve Who?'"

"What happened to every day before it?"

Darcy waved dismissively. "They didn't count."

Jane blinked. "Why?"

"Because he wasn't here, so I didn't even have to do anything. But FRIDAY confirmed that the team will be back today. _Today_ , which, if you haven’t noticed, is Friday. The day he shows up with take-out and we talk about Very Serious Things™, and he makes me think I'm special, when really he's got it bad for Itsy-Bitsy, and I'm just the oblivious stepping stone."

Sighing, Jane reached for her.

"Nooo. _No_." Darcy pointed at her with a pencil. "I appreciate the love, but I need to be strong. Hulk levels strong. And when you hug me, it makes me feel like I can break down."

"You _can_ break down. If you need to."

"I know." Darcy sent her a soft, appreciative look. "But I don't _want_ to. I want to let it go and move on and just... Forget I ever got my stupid hopes up."

Jane pursed her lips, not entirely convinced, but kind enough to not say it, just this once. "Okay. If that's what you need, then okay."

"Okay."

Jane stared at her a beat and then walked past her, sneak-attacking her with a kiss to the cheek. "If you change your mind, I'll be over there. Working."

Darcy rolled her eyes and stifled a smile. "I know." She watched her go. "Thanks."

Jane waved a hand over her shoulder, dismissing it.

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

Darcy stood in medical, her arms crossed, watching as Brady had a large gash on his shoulder prepped for stitching. His hands were on his knees, his gaze on the floor, and his sneakered feet were kicking back and forth nervously.

“No concussion, right?”

Brady glanced at her and then away, shaking his head.

“So, when I ask if you remember the last thing I said before you fell...”

He winced. “You said ‘don’t step on the top rung, Brady.’”

“And then you...?”

“Stepped on the top rung.”

“And then?”

“The very top of the ladder.”

“And then?”

“I fell.”

“Right. And now you’re getting twelve stitches. _Twelve_. If stitches were eggs, you’d have a dozen.” Darcy paced, her hands on her hips. “You know, on ladders, it clearly states not to step beyond a certain point. It’s in bright red so you don’t miss it. Unless you’re color blind... or can’t read... or you feel like tempting fate. Do you fall into any of those categories, Brady?”

“Um... the last one? I guess?”

“You would have to, Brady, because I’ve read your personnel record. No sign of colorblindness and perfectly capable of reading warning signs. And yet... here we are... in the medical wing.”

“It was a mistake.” He shoulders slouched and his expression turned extra pathetic. “I’m not fired, am I?”

Darcy sighed, long and loud. “If I didn’t fire Alex for her glitter bomb, I won’t fire you for overestimating your ability to balance on a ladder.”

He let out a relieved whoosh of air.

“ _But!”_

He looked up, nervous. “But?”

“You have to be on your best behaviour. Starting right now. That means you take your stitches like a good little scientist and you don’t swear at our awesome nurse here, who is only trying to do her job.”

He looked from her to the nurse and back. “I... I’ll try my best.”

“Good. If your ‘best’ results in no swearing, you get a sticker, and maybe even a sucker.” She unwrapped her own sucker, hopped onto a counter, and waited, watching as the nurse stepped forward with her stitching needle and gave him one last questioning look.

Drawing a deep breath, Brady nodded. “Go ahead. Please.”

Later, a very proud Brady returned to the lab with an orange sucker and two stickers that read ‘good job!’ and ‘excellent!’

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

Steve arrived back on base shortly after three. Darcy knew because a tired Bruce dropped by her lab to thank her for stocking up on his tea before he took three boxes with him and retired to his room. So, the Avengers were back, which meant Steve was back, which meant that he would be expecting her to be there for their usual Friday non-date take-out night.

At four o’clock, Darcy ushered Jane out of the lab, enacted ‘ _can’t touch this_ ’ protocol, and repeatedly told Jane that yes, it was totally fine that she was going on her date with Ted and Darcy would be totally fine.

“I’m going to make real food, Janey. At home. Like an adult. It’ll be the most action my stove has ever seen.”

“Do you even _have_ food to make? When’s the last time you went grocery shopping? Does the commissary carry stuff like that? I thought it was all pre-made stuff? That’s why we have a cafeteria…”

Darcy shoved her best friend through the open door of her room. “Stop worrying about me and just go have fun.”

Jane chewed her lip uncertainly. “I could bring you back something from the restaurant,” she offered. “Ted found this Szechuan place and—”

Darcy flinched. “ _No_.”

Jane stared at her, wide-eyed. “Not a Szechuan fan?”

Taking a deep breath, Darcy said, “Jane, I love you, but I’m fine. Go out, have fun with Ted, don’t worry about me.”

“Okay…” Jane looked unconvinced. “Tomorrow though? We’ll visit town?”

“Sure. Or Sunday. We’ll see how you feel tomorrow.”

With a sigh, Jane nodded.

Darcy stepped back, let the door to Jane’s room close, and turned on her heel to make her way to her own room. She’d raided the commissary earlier and found that yes, they did carry food there that would take actual effort to make on her own. There wasn’t a lot, but enough to make a passable pasta dinner. So, that was what she would do. Eat her weight in carbs and watch Dog Cops. What more could a girl ask of a Friday night?

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

As expected, Jane spent much of Saturday sleeping. Even with frequent naps throughout the week, Jane’s big, beautiful brain sucked a lot of energy out of her. Or that’s what Darcy chose to believe. She didn’t for a second want to entertain the idea that Jane and Ted were knocking boots... Or, in their case, sensible runners.

So, entirely aware that her creeping would be completely ineffective in a compound filled with sneaky sneakers, she attempted to get to the commissary to load up on food for the day without being spotted by a certain super-soldier. A tiny, very mature, part of Darcy considered just talking to Steve, laying all the facts out and asking him, well, _why?_ Why put her in a weird position where she was just a tool for him to get someone else’s attention? Why spend so much time with her and entertain the idea of them being friends if he didn’t really want that? She couldn’t put her hopes on him. Her feelings were not his fault. But at the very least, she thought they were friends. The idea that he had only engaged her, that he continued to hang out with her, only to draw Natasha’s attention, felt unnecessarily cruel. Which was the last thing she expected of him. Not because of the truth and justice spiel, but because the Steve she’d gotten to know seemed like a good person who did things for the right reasons.

Maybe it was just like Jane said. He was human. There was no pedestal unless she put him on one. Even super-soldiers could have a hard time getting a girl’s attention. Especially when that girl was Natasha Romanoff.

That didn’t excuse it, of course. But maybe it helped her let it go. Let her move on. It wasn’t like she really had a chance anyway.

Darcy was loading up on cheese slices, margarine, bread, and a carton of egg whites with red and green peppers. Scrambled eggs for breakfast, grilled cheese for lunch, and leftover pasta for dinner. And then she’d get some knitting done. No more moping with Netflix. She would knit and call her mom and read a book. That was some form of adulting, right?

Since she’d forgotten her reusable grocery bag, Darcy’s arms were laden down when Sam Wilson walked into the commissary. He took one look at everything and then raised an eyebrow. “Sick of cafeteria food?”

“Maybe I’m just avoiding the inevitable food fights.”

He rolled his eyes. “ _One time_ …”

She snorted. “That’s not what I heard.”

“All right, but I didn’t start those.” He pointed at her. “Raccoon Eyes is an instigator! It’s not my fault Steve can’t see it.”

“You threw an entire burrito at his head.”

“I was _provoked_.”

Darcy blinked at him.

Sam grinned. “Pretty good though, right? Master tactician my ass. Couldn’t even duck a burrito…”

Shaking her head, Darcy smiled. “Well, at least you guys keep it interesting.” She shrugged, gesturing down to her armful of food with her chin. “I should really get back to my place though. I have the breakfast of champions ahead of me.”

“Sure, yeah, eggs whites. Don’t indulge too much, Lewis.” While she was making her way to the door, he called after her, “My sister sent me a recipe for making our own avocado scrubs. Next time me, you, and the human popsickle get together, I wanna try it out.”

Darcy hesitated a moment. Their spa days were about to be non-existent, but now wasn’t the time to mention that, so she just nodded. “Sure, you got it.” With that, she hurried out the door and made her way toward her apartment, trying to avoid anywhere Steve might frequent. She nearly made it too. Her place was in sight when she heard a familiar laugh. She didn’t mean to look back. She was hoping to just duck her head and make a break for her room, but her head was a traitor and the next thing she knew, she’d shifted, searching him out.

He was walking down the hall, distant enough that she wasn’t directly in sight. There were entirely too many glass walls in this joint, she thought. But, there he was. Or there his back was. She couldn’t make out his face, but she’d know those Dorito dimensions anywhere. Judging by the bright red hair of his companion, she guessed that it was Natasha who’d made him laugh.

Darcy watched for another beat before finally turning around and making her way to her room. As soon as the door closed behind her, she felt her shoulders slump. She was being dumb. Hiding in her room to avoid someone who probably wasn’t even giving her a second thought. He had a life and so did she. And hers didn’t deserve to be spent hiding in her room.

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

“I thought we weren’t going antiquing.” Jane eyed the store with a scrunch of her nose. “It smells in here.”

“We’re not antiquing. Everything in here’s been repurposed. They have a Facebook page and I want to see if they still have an art piece I saw.”

Jane carefully avoided touching anything, her arms pulled in close to her body. “And the smell?”

“That would be Rufus. Wet dog is hard to miss.” A man with a manicured hipster beard and man-bun walked up to them, hands tucked in the pockets of his jeans and plaid shirt unbuttoned a little too low at the front. “Anything you’re looking for in particular?” he wondered, looking between them.

Darcy nodded. “Fence panel, neon lights, ‘Frankie says Relax.’”

He perked up. “I was hoping someone might buy that.” He waved a hand for them to follow and led them through the store to the back. It was hanging up on a wall and plugged in to show off the bright, neon pink lights. He left them there to admire it as he made his way back to the front when another customer arrived.

“Really?” Jane stared up at it. “Please tell me it’s going in your place and not the lab.”

Darcy snorted. “As if I’d waste it on the lab.”

“You put that ugly cat clock in the lab. The one with the tail that moved.”

“It deserved to be _seen_ , Jane. It was a classic.”

“Uh-huh.” Jane rolled her eyes fondly. “All right, well, let’s take it and go. I’ve just discovered an allergy to Rufus the wet dog.”

Darcy reached down to unplug it before pulling it off the wall and carrying it to the front counter. “Hey, whatever happened to that cat clock?”

Jane glanced at her and then away. “I don’t know. Something unfortunate probably.”

“Jane… did you kill the cat?”

Jane shot her a look. “If I did you’ll never be able to prove it.”

Darcy stared at her.

“All right, _fine_. I did it! I couldn’t take it. He was always staring at me. _Mocking_ me.”

“He was a plastic cat clock.”

“A _judgmental_ plastic cat clock.”

Tisking, Darcy shook her head. “Well, there’s nothing to be done. When we get back to the compound, I’m gonna have to report you to management, get you thrown in the brig.”

Jane rolled her eyes. “We don’t have a brig!”

Darcy eyed her, unconvinced. “That’s what they want you to think.”

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

_‘They're taking the hobbits to Isengard—gard —gard —gard —gard.’_

Darcy looked down at her phone, Bucky’s name displayed on the screen. Her ringtone started again, cut off when she thumbed the Answer button and raised the phone to her ear. “Hey.”

“I have cupcakes. Meet me in the common room.”

He hung up and Darcy rolled her eyes. It was lunch, which meant Jane was currently napping. She double-checked that said scientist was actually sleeping before she left the lab and made her way to the common room. It was empty, save for a familiar man sitting in an armchair, one booted-foot propped against the coffee table, where a box of cupcakes sat in wait, the top open.

“Is anybody monitoring your sugar intake?”

He rolled his eyes. “I can eat this whole box on my own. I didn’t have to invite you.”

Snorting, Darcy circled the couch and took a seat, reaching for a vanilla cupcake with lime green frosting. “You know you don’t have to bring me food for us to hang out, right?”

“You sure?” He eyed her curiously. “Way Steve tells it, dinner was a must-have if he was gonna take up your Friday night. And he was always loading up on snacks for Sunday, never let me eat any of your favorites.”

Darcy kept her gaze on the cupcake, swiping a finger through the frosting. “Don’t get me wrong, free take-out and cupcakes are always appreciated. But don’t think you have to bribe me with food to be my friend.”

“Friend, huh? My therapist’ll be so proud.”

She grinned. “Do I come up in sessions much?”

“Nah, doll. Those are reserved for all the bad shit.” He leaned back in his chair and sighed, his hands stacked on his stomach. “Stevie said you were pretty easy to talk to though. If I’m honest, that might be why I dropped by your lab the first time.”

Her brow furrowed. “I thought you were there to apologize and thank me.”

“I was. Just gave me a chance to feel you out a bit.”

“Should I be flattered you wanted to befriend me that much?”

He snorted. “Made a guy piss on your floor. As first impressions go, I could’a done better.”

“That wasn’t my first impression.”

“No?”

“No, that was when you crammed three cupcakes in your mouth. I was impressed, but I was also pissed. I really wanted one of those cupcakes.”

He huffed a laugh. “I haven’t made up for that yet?”

“Oh, definitely. But I won’t be forgetting it any time soon.”

He sighed, but a smile was pulling at the corner of his mouth. “Wasn’t just about being your friend though. Steve was talkin’ a lot about you back then. Thought I’d see for myself who’d caught his attention.” He scrubbed a hand over his bristly chin. “Takes a lot to draw his eye these days. He’s all about the fight.” He paused. “It’s good for him though. Sometimes you spend so much time fighting, you forget what it’s for.”

Darcy’s gaze skirted away. “Friday night take-out isn’t much to write home about. He’s got bigger reasons to fight. Pretty sure you and Sam are a lot higher on that list.”

Bucky hummed. “You know, back when I was drafted, there was this sense of… _urgency_. We all knew we were headed for war. Some of us had big dreams of being heroes, but most of us were scared shitless. You get through Basic, you tell yourself you’re gonna be one of the ones that makes it back. If you’re lucky, you’ve got a girl waiting on you. She writes you regularly, tells you she loves you, that you’ve got a future if you can do your duty and get home. Sometimes it’s pretty words and sometimes they mean it. It doesn’t always matter which one if it gets you through another day in the trenches. So, you keep a picture of your girl on you and you look at it every night, try to memorize her face, shape of her eyes, every curl of her hair. You close your eyes and try to hear her voice, talking at you, telling you you’re gonna be okay. And you choose to believe it, even if you feel like you got a bullet out there with your name on it, just waiting to find you. Sometimes you need the lie, need the comfort of knowing someone wants you, they’re waiting on you, they’ll cry if you fall and don’t get up.”

Darcy stared at him, his eyes on the floor, something haunted crowding the hollows of his face.

“You can have all the strength in the world, all the best intentions one man could carry, but if you go into that fight with no hope left, spirit drained to nothing, then it gets easy. Too easy to forget who you’re fighting for, what you’re trying to achieve.”

“What’s that?”

“Freedom. To get out from underneath the boot of whoever’s stepping on you. To live however you wanna live. Love whoever you wanna love. Be wherever you wanna be. And maybe there’s some justice in that. In killing the guy wearing the shoe or living beyond whatever he had planned. Maybe your justice is surviving and having something they never wanted you to have. A _life_. A chance to be whoever the hell you wanna be. In the end, it’s not really about surviving. It’s about what comes after that. ‘Cause you can come home, but if there’s nothing after that, then you never really left the field.”

Darcy swallowed, his words heavy and worth thinking over.

Bucky stood from his chair then. He grabbed up a double chocolate and left the vanilla-strawberry behind in the box. “Stevie was right. You’re easy to talk to, Darce.”

As he walked away, she dropped her gaze to the uneaten cupcake still in her hand. Not particularly hungry, she put it back in the box and took it with her back to the lab. She and Jane could share them when she woke up.

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

Peter was back. And he brought a friend.

Ned Leeds hadn’t closed his mouth since he entered the compound. He gaped at everything, even the elevator doors, though they _were_ particularly shiny today.

“Hi, Miss Lewis!” Peter greeted her as she stepped on the elevator with them. He bounced forward on the toes of his shoes and then rocked back on his heels, grinning at her widely.

“Peter.” Her gaze darted to Ned. This time, Peter’s visit had been approved by her; not as an intern, however. While he was technically an Avenger, he was also still a minor. So, she’d given him basic access to most floors, set him up with a room (with a bunk-bed), and restricted him from anything that could cause him or others damage. That said, she knew he was particularly fond of visiting Helen and could often be found in the company of Tony. Who might pretend he wasn’t very invested in Peter’s growth both as a human bean and superhero, but he had a giant, Spider-boy shaped soft-spot and they could all see it. “Ned.”

Ned turned his gaped look on her next. “ _Hiii_...”

She smiled. “Hi.”

“Are you an Avenger too?” His eyes brightened. “Are you Scarlet Witch? No! The Wasp? _No_.” He gasped. “Are you the Black Widow?”

“Sadly, I am none of those people. I’m just Darcy, no spandex or world saving for me.”

“Oh.” He paused. “But, you live here. That’s gotta be cool!”

“It can be, yeah.”

Peter smiled. “This is Miss Lewis. She runs the Research & Development floor.”

“So, you’re a scientist?”

“I’m scientist-adjacent.” Darcy shrugged. “I keep their giant brains from imploding and exploding whenever necessary.” She tapped her fingers against the tablet she was holding. “Where are you two headed?”

Ned and Peter exchanged a not-so-sly glance at each other.

“Uh, just around...” Peter rocked on his feet again. “Nowhere particular. Just exploring.”

“Uh-huh. Would that exploring happen to be leading to the gym? Where the Hulk is currently smashing things.”

Peter’s cheeks bloomed pink, but Ned just looked excited. “So, he is there? _Cool!_ ”

Darcy sighed. “FRIDAY, please make the observatory above the gym available to Mister Parker and Mister Leeds.” She turned a knowing look on the two teenagers. “The observatory is a nice, safe distance from anywhere Aunt May wouldn’t let you hang out. You can watch the smashing all you like, but if you come back with any bumps, bruises, or missing limbs, that won’t look so good on us. So, keep all hands and feet inside the observatory at all times.”

They grinned at her. “Yes, ma’am,” they chorused.

The elevator doors opened and they scrambled out, pushing excitedly at each other as they raced down the hall, following the lit-up floor as it led them toward the gym.

Darcy shook her head fondly. It was kind of nice being reminded of how innocent people could still be, despite everything.

* * *

**...**

* * *

 

As expected, with Steve’s return, Darcy saw less of Bucky. She still found a coffee with whipped cream and a muffin (aka a breakfast cupcake) on her desk every morning though. Who was she to turn down delicious free treats? Feet up, she peeled the wrapper off the muffin and ate the bottom first. The top was always the best, after all. She was mid-bite when a high-pitched noise caught her attention.

Following it, Darcy’s gaze eventually landed on her desk, where a very small man stood, waving for her attention.

Darcy slid to her knees and stared at him. Either Stark had built Jane her shrink ray, or she was finally meeting Ant-Man. “This conversation would be better shared if you were me-sized.”

He dropped his head forward, hands on his hips and, she could only assume, _sighed_.

“I’m guessing something’s broken?”

He looked up and pointed at her, hopping excitedly.

“Did you... want some help finding someone who could fix that for you?”

He tapped his nose and pointed again.

Darcy held a hand out. “C’mon, Ant-Guy, Stark is a few labs over.”

He scrambled to climb into her palm and then saluted her, before quickly wrapping his arms around her thumb to better steady himself.

Shaking her head, Darcy left Jane’s lab and made her way to Tony’s. She found him wandering around with a head-set that had a giant magnifying glass connected to it. “Lemme guess, you lost a very tiny Avenger.”

Tony looked up, rocked back on his heels, and tapped his fingers together. “What makes you say that?”

Darcy blinked. “One question...”

“Sure.”

“Is the reason Scott Lang is currently stuck in tiny-mode because you were trying to figure out how his suit worked in order to make Janey a shrink ray?”

Tony stared at her.

Darcy stared back.

A beat passed.

Then another.

Until, finally...

“In my defense—”

Darcy rolled her eyes. She brought Scott to the table, let him climb down off her hand, and then stabbed a finger against Tony’s chest. “Let me be very clear... You can build her a shrink ray the world could never begin to imagine. But the first thing getting shrunk will be you. I will put you in a doll house where you will spend a very long time trying to make a _miniature_ de-shrinking ray to unshrink yourself. And in that time, I will find Pepper someone that isn’t the cause for at least three of my grey hairs. So, think very seriously about what you want to do.”

Tony blinked slowly. “Message received.”

Darcy nodded, short and sharp, and then turned a look on Scott. “And fix him. He’s liable to get stepped on.”

“On it.”

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

[Wednesday, 11:58 pm] — _I just want to know what I did… What I can do…_

[Thursday, 12:03 am] — _Tell me how to fix this, and I will._

[Thursday, 12:11 am] — _Please?_

Darcy stared.

She stared and stared and stared.

And then, for the first time in more than a week, she responded:

— _Your hurt me._

**_Delete_** _._

— _You used me._

**_Delete_** _._

— _You made me think you liked me._

**_Delete_** _._

— _You made me like you._

**_Delete._ **

_— I got my hopes up._

**_Delete_** _._

_— I saw something that wasn’t there._

**_Delete_** _._

— _It’s not you, it’s me. I made us into something in my head, something we aren’t, that you don't want. And that wasn’t fair. I want to respect your choices and your feelings, but at the same time, I can’t help feeling like you never gave me the same respect. Because when I think of you, I think of that moment. I think of the split second where your lips touched my cheek and I felt butterflies like I haven’t in a really long time. I felt warm and fuzzy and like something really amazing and beautiful was about to finally, finally happen. But then you were looking at someone else and I had the wrong name and suddenly, I don’t know where I stand with you. I don’t know who or what I am to you. Which is scary and painful and right now, I just wanna be alone. Because I’m humiliated and hurt and I feel really, really, stupid._

**_Delete_** _. **Delete. Delete.**_

— _You can’t fix it._

**_Delete_** _._

_— There’s nothing to fix._

**_Send_** _._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so so sorry about the late update. i've been really busy and really tired from work and editing this monster of a chapter just kept getting pushed off. it's after midnight already and i have to be up early for work and so i apologize if i missed any mistakes. let me know if you see any! 
> 
> thank you all so much for your amazing comments and support! they've been so fantastic and such a huge encouragement in getting this story out there and making time to write and edit. :)
> 
> there wasn't much steve in this chapter, that'll change. it's just that right now, i wanted to focus on darcy's attempt to build herself back up and enact boundaries for her own emotional safety and comfort.


	4. Chapter 4

Thursday was not off to a great start.

The muffin and coffee Bucky usually left Darcy was not on her desk. Not that he owed her that or anything. But after a few days of always finding them there, she’d become a little dependant on that. She’d fallen into a routine of knowing her favorite Starbucks drink would be there waiting, with her name horribly misspelled and the much-needed whipped topping she preferred. Walking into Jane’s lab to find it bereft of her usual morning treat, she felt a little… Well, despondent seemed like a strong word, but it fit, so, she was that. Not so much for the food itself as much as what it represented.

Despondency (and hunger) led her to the commissary, where she was woe to find that the only muffins left were bran. She hated bran. It made her feel like she was sixty and worried about bowel movements. But, if that was all there was… She would just have to wash it down with Tony’s expensive, but totally worth it, coffee.

Speaking of Tony, when she dropped by his lab, he was being suspiciously secretive about whatever he was working on. She caught sight of wires and metal, but little else.

Standing by the coffee machine, she narrowed her eyes at him as she took a deep gulp of rich, coffee goodness. “What’re you working on?”

“Stuff. _Things_.” He waved his gloved hands, each holding a tool. “Very important, very complicated, very… scientific sciencey science things.”

“Mm-hmm.” She raised an eyebrow and pushed off the counter. As she walked by, he moved, side-stepping so that her view was always his hunched shoulders and grease-stained tank top. Glancing at his hair, she decided it wasn’t even a DEFCON 4 situation. It was still comfortably in Zone 5. So, no need to intercept— _yet_ —but he would need extra supervision. With a mental sigh, Darcy left his lab already trying to figure out how she was going to keep Jane from going on a mad-scientist bender and shrinking all her enemies. Maybe she should make a list of Jane’s enemies. For warning purposes.

Unless they deserved to be shrunk…

Wait, no, she couldn’t give in to Jane’s line of thinking. That way led to world domination.

Admittedly, there could be worse world rulers than Jane. They’d witnessed that first hand already. But then, Jane wasn’t the most _present_ person. One little science mystery and she would be off doing that, letting the rest of the globe go to hell quick. Which meant _Darcy_ would be expected to pick up the slack whenever Supreme Overlord Foster dropped the ball. Frankly, that was too much responsibility for her age. She wasn’t even thirty. Girls might run the world, but she preferred to be a supportive character in all of that, not the main event.

Maybe later. Like, forty. She could probably juggle the world at 40. So, she just had to keep Jane from going full rogue another 11 years. She could do that.

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

By lunch, Darcy was further disappointed to find neither Sam nor Bucky in her office to watch their favorite soap opera. There was something less entertaining about watching it on her own, without their commentary on who was in the right and who was in love with who and whether or not that twin was evil. There were also less snacks, which was a necessity with any show watching. So, resigning herself to the fact that Steve had clearly reabsorbed their mutual friends as just his own, she left her office and chose to instead focus on work.

Which was the exact moment that Kiara ran down the hallway with a bucket stuck to her head while a cackling Risha stood at the end of the hall.

Sighing, Darcy stared at the perpetrator with a raised eyebrow.

Risha went completely silent before holding her hands up in an innocent manner and telling her, “I was only a witness!”

Darcy cocked her head. “Not with that evil laugh you weren’t.”

Risha's shoulders deflated. “I have a neutralizer that will de-stick her.” She marched back into her lab while Darcy turned her attention to Kiara, who had stopped running and was standing a few feet away, not quite faced in the right direction, her arms crossed.

“Whatever this is, it feels like chewed gum,” she muttered, her voice sounding hollow through the bucket.

Darcy shook her head. “Bucket over the door prank?”

“No. There was a pulley system rigged up.”

Darcy pinched the bridge of her nose. “Of course there was.”

“I’m not in trouble, am I?”

“Did you do anything to warrant getting into trouble?”

“Ummm...”

A loud crashing noise could be heard from down the hall before a suddenly angry Risha ran out into the hallway, covered in—

Darcy frowned. “Is that confetti?”

“Confetti isn’t glitter!” Kiara exclaimed, before turning to flee once more, hindered so much by the bucket that she ran face-first into a wall and tumbled backwards, landing on her butt.

Darcy looked from Kiara to Risha and then sighed. She had a feeling her day was only going to get longer.

* * *

**...**

* * *

 

Hours later, after the labs were mostly emptied out and Darcy had a chance to breathe, she was still in a mood, which was why she wasn’t all that surprised when Bruce handed her a mug of his favorite de-stressing tea.

Darcy cupped it with both hands, brought it up to her nose, and just inhaled. The scent was warm and calming and for a moment, she felt like she could just sink into it. Had anyone ever bathed in tea? She wondered how many bags it would take to fill up a bathtub with tea and just let it sink into her pores until she was a floating entity.

“Too many,” Bruce informed her, leading her to his meditation room.

She sunk down into a bean bag chair and groaned.

“Long day?”

“Felt longer than usual.” Shrugging, she tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling. “You ever wish you went into a different field?”

“I have.” His tone was amused and Darcy abruptly felt utterly stupid. Of course he’d thought about it. In the early days of the Hulk, he probably desperately wished he could rewrite time and choices and the path that brought him to where he was.

Even knowing that, however, she had to wonder… “Do you still?”

He didn’t answer right away, taking time to measure his response. “Sometimes. A lot less than I used to. On really hectic days or after a difficult switch with The Other Guy, those are the days I have regrets.”

“Are you ever... _glad_ you have him?”

“More than I ever thought I’d be.” His brow furrowed. “For a long time, I wanted the separation. I wanted to believe we were two very different people, or things or… But as time went on, it became clear that he was a part of me. That I _am_ him. And now... You have to understand, at the worst of it, I could see no other way. I thought death was the only solution. But if I’d been successful in... _that_ then I wouldn’t be here now. I wouldn’t’ve been able to help in New York, Sokovia, Wakanda... And maybe that was my way of making up for what I’ve done and who I’ve hurt. Maybe it’s even a little selfish. But, it helps.” He nodded. “So, in its own way, he saved my life so I could do something with it.”

“ _Wow_.”

He half-smiled, his brows hiked. “Yeah.” Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on his knees as he stared at her searchingly. “Have you been questioning your job here?”

Darcy’s mouth screwed up. “Not... exactly. I love what I do and I know it matters, that it helps. There are just some days that I get tired.” She sighed. “I think the part I’m really having trouble with is just making sure that I have time _away_ from work. I have friends but so many of them are tied to what I do that even when we’re not here, when we’re doing something completely else, it still feels a bit too much like work.”

“Have you ever not felt like that?”

Two weeks ago, she would’ve said that she could be sitting on a desk in Jane’s lab, surrounded by work, but with Steve right there in front of her, talking to her, she felt like she was somewhere else entirely. That even in the thick of it, he made her feel like their time together was so completely separate from her job that she hardly noticed whatever landscape they were in. But now... She looked back on those days with a lot more skepticism. “I don’t know. Maybe for a little while. But the weekends are only so long and before I know it, I’m back to scientist wrangling.”

Bruce nodded and then winced. “I’m sorry if I’m ever the scientist at the root of your latest headache.”

“For the most part, you’re my easiest scientist.”

“Really?” He snorted. “I guess it helps that The Other Guy likes you.”

“We get along, yeah. But generally, you’re also pretty lowkey. Sometimes you get on a bender with Tony or you get stuck up in your head and forget that the human brain needs sleep to function properly, but... I’d say you were on the lower end of my headache scale.”

“Good. I’m glad.” He waved a hand around. “And for the record, you can always use my meditation room if you need to blow off some steam.”

She huffed a laugh. “Thanks, I’ll probably need it.”

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

Seated on Darcy’s couch, a bowl of warmed up mac n’ cheese in her lap, Jane stared at the neon sign hanging on Darcy’s wall. “I don’t hate it.”

“Better than the clock cat?” Darcy wandered around her place, tidying things up as she went. She often spent so much time at work that when she finally got home, all she wanted to do was veg. So, picking up little things here or there across the week kept things liveable.

Jane gave an exaggerated shudder. “I’m glad that cat is gone. It was probably haunted or something.”

“You don’t even believe in ghosts.”

“After everything we’ve seen, I might have to re-evaluate my stance on the paranormal.” Jane shrugged before shoving a spoonful of cheesy noodles into her mouth. “Anyway, I like it.”

“Yeah, me too.” Darcy plopped down on the couch beside her. “You were suspiciously easy to pull away from work today, what’s up? Usually I have to drag you out, kicking and screaming, and force-feed you.”

Jane rolled her eyes. “That’s a little overdramatic.”

“You’re telling me.”

Jane rocked herself to the side and bumped Darcy’s shoulder with hers. “I just noticed you were kind of upset today. Thought we could hang out, just us, see if it helped.”

Darcy stared at Jane’s profile a moment.

Jane was awesome with a capital A. She was ridiculously smart and her big, beautiful brain was unlocking any number of space-secrets on the daily. She was not, however, known for being particularly aware of those around her. Science was and would always be her first focus. But, to hear that she was putting significant time and energy into checking in on Darcy, even if it meant losing out on valuable science time, was kind of seriously touching.

Smiling, Darcy leaned into her, shoulder to shoulder. “You wanna watch something dumb and mindless on Netflix?”

“Sure. You can pick.”

“You’re seriously going to give me that kind of power?” Darcy’s brows hiked. “You hate most of the shows I like.”

“Just no reality TV. That stuff will rot your brain.”

“Sometimes you need brain-rot, Jane. You’ve got enough brains, it won’t affect you any.”

Jane scrunched up her nose. “I don’t want to test that theory.”

“Fine, no reality TV. What about a comedy?”

“Sure.” Jane shoved off the couch then and headed for the kitchen. “I’m getting more food. You want anything?”

“The secret to where you put everything you eat. That’s your third serving.”

Jane stuck her tongue out. “It’s good!”

“If I knew neon orange powdered cheese was the way to your stomach, I could’ve saved myself a lot of time and energy.”

“ _Ha, ha_.” Jane scooped a healthy heap into her bowl and then returned, situating herself in the corner while her slippered feet landed in Darcy’s lap. “My mom used to make this when I was a kid. She always put cocktail wieners in it.”

“My mom just cut up regular hot dogs.”

Jane hummed. “Have you talked to her lately?”

“Once a week if she picks up. She’s been traveling a lot.” Her brow furrowed. “I think she’s in Prague right now. She keeps sending me ‘wish you were here’ post cards. Like, way too many. I think I have twenty already.”

“Aww, that’s sweet.”

“Yeah, you say that now, you try opening your mailbox and nearly losing an eye to an avalanche of post cards.”

Jane snorted. “What’d you do with them all?”

“I put them in a shoebox. I’m probably going to make her a scrapbook or something when she’s done.” Darcy shrugged and sat back, scrolling through her Netflix for anything interesting. “At least she’s having fun. She’s always wanted to travel.”

“A scrapbook? Can I help?”

Darcy smiled, imagining Jane tackling an arts and crafts project the same way she did anything science-related, with all the force of a tornado. “That’d be great.”

Jane beamed and then perked. “Ooh, hey, hey, that one!”

Darcy glanced back at the screen. “Meet the Robinsons?”

Balancing her bowl in her lap, Jane pulled her arms deep into her sleeves and said, “ _I have a big head and little arms_.”

Darcy snorted and shook her head in amused fondness. "You dork.”

Unashamed, Jane just shrugged and grabbed up her bowl once more, filling her mouth with gooey, cheesy goodness.

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

Finding no muffin or coffee on her desk Friday morning, a resigned Darcy dropped by the commissary, grabbed something for herself and Jane, dropped it in the lab, and then started the trek to Tony’s. She might not have a tasty muffin in her future but by _God_ there would be good coffee.

Halfway there, however, she was intercepted.

There was a grunt that sounded just enough like “ _here”_ to be considered a word.

Darcy blinked at the outstretched hand, then followed the metal arm up to its owner. “What’s this?”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “What’s it look like?”

“I already grabbed a muffin.”

“You don’t like bran.” He wiggled the bag expectantly. “This one’s carrot.”

Darcy was a weak-willed person when it came to baked goods, and she did like her carrot muffins, so she accepted it, and then frowned as she looked inside at the contents of the baggie. “Is this pre-buttered?”

He shrugged. “To make up for yesterday.”

“Okay...” Her brow knit. “I appreciate it, but you don’t owe me breakfast.”

“I would’a dropped something off like usual, but I had a thing.”

“A thing?”

He nodded, and apparently that was all he was willing to say, as he quickly busied his mouth sipping from his own coffee, this one marked ‘ _borky_.’

Taking a look at her own cup, it read ‘ _drake,’_ which... _what?_ How? Some barista out there was clearly having a good time coming up with more and more absurd names. Shrugging, Darcy took a long sip, smacked her lips appreciatively, and then turned to him. “You missed our favorite soap. Carmen is pregnant with triplets.”

His eyes narrowed before he muttered with conviction, " _I knew it_.”

She laughed under her breath. “Yeah, you called it.”

Bucky nodded, satisfied. “Who’s the father?”

“Well, she’s claiming virgin birth, so I guess we’ll have to see.”

He snorted. “My money’s on Carlos.”

“Carlos is a possessed mannequin! His junk shouldn’t even produce...” Pausing, she took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. “You know what, I’m not having this argument again.”

His mouth kicked up, but he hid it behind his cup.

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

Darcy stared, squinty-eyed, at a foot-shuffling doctor. She’d only dropped by to see if her Avengers brand Band-Aids had been delivered to the medical labs instead of the sciencey ones. They were great for papercuts, of which her many scientists were often victim to. Turns out they had been left with medical and, in the process of collecting them, Darcy found herself faced with an awkwardly nervous Helen Cho. “You want me to what?”

“Just put some feelers out. See what you find.”

Darcy blinked. “Or… I could just ask him, point-blank.”

“No! Don’t do that!” Helen’s eyes widened. “ _Subtle_ , Darcy. Just— I don’t know. Ask Captain Rogers or Sargant Barnes, but… _casually_.”

“You want me to ask two men trained in interrogation tactics if one of their closest friends is single and _not_ let them know that’s what I’m asking?”

Helen sighed, long and loud, her cheeks flushed a pretty pink. “I knew this was a stupid idea.” Her shoulders slumped. “I don’t even know what I was expecting. We flirt sometimes but it’s not a _thing_. It’s not like he’s ever even talked to me outside of the lab or anything. But when he is around he’s always so funny and friendly and _handsome_ and I just—”

“You’ve clearly never seen him in a food fight. He had literally _no_ mercy and he doesn’t wear spaghetti well.”

Helen blinked. “Who does?”

“Good point.” Darcy leaned back. “All right… Let’s say I do find out that Sam’s single— and I’m about ninety-percent sure he is if the amount of time he spends watching soaps and pissing Bucky off just for a laugh is any indication— then what? Are you gonna ask him out? Marry him on the track out back?” Her eyes lit up. “Oh my God, will you release doves at the wedding?!”

Helen rolled her eyes. “I was hoping to start with drinks. Maybe dinner.”

Humming, Darcy nodded. “All right, but I reserve the right to make a speech about how I smoothed the way toward True Love if everything ends with you two walking down the aisle.”

“Sure, fine, deal.”

Darcy grinned. “Awesome.”

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

Jane was hovering.

_'What’s this pattern look like to you?’_

_‘Here, I made that tea you like.’_

_‘Do you wanna change the music? We can put on one of your mixes.'_

_‘Are you hungry? I have leftover soup.’_

It was... unnerving. Darcy knew it was just Jane’s way of trying to be attentive, but it was throwing her off. “Jane, I’m fine. Seriously. Go play with your science, I’m good.”

Jane hesitated, chewing on her lip. “Are you sure? You know, I was thinking of just staying home tonight. Or maybe we could go to a movie together, just us!”

Rolling her eyes, Darcy took her by her shoulders and ushered her toward her desk before shoving a pencil into her hand. “Here. Scribble some genius down. I need to check on the other mad scientists. Lunch is right around the corner and chances are high they aren’t going to want to detach from whatever they’re working on.”

Jane scrunched up her nose. “I’m not a dog. I’m not going to be distracted just because—”

“What’s that?” Darcy pointed at something on a scan Jane had on her desk.

“It’s a—” Jane cut herself off, her eyes narrowed. “Wait a second...” Quickly growing distracted, she forgot all about Darcy.

Patting herself on the back, Darcy turned on her heel and fled for the door. At the end of the hall, the elevator opened, and one of the cafeteria workers arrived with a trolley of food.

“Penny!” Darcy walked down to meet her. “Right on time. What’ve we got for today?”

“Your brood is picky, Lewis.” Penny picked up a check list of people, their food allergies and preferences, and sighed. “Takes extra-long to make sure everybody’s taken care of.”

“Have I mentioned lately that you deserve a raise? With all the extra work you do, taking care of this whole place, it’s not an easy job. I’ll bring it up to Miss Potts first thing.”

Penny waved a hand, but her cheeks had flushed pink. “Just doing my job. You don’t have to make a fuss.”

“You’re the one putting in the extra effort, I’m just making sure it gets rewarded. You want some help handing everything out?”

Penny rocked back on her heels. “Well, if you’ve got the time, extra hands can’t hurt.”

“Happy to. Just tell me where to start.”

* * *

**...**

* * *

 

Darcy was taking a late lunch on the hill, the same one she and Jane had previously picnicked on. She had a half-eaten turkey sandwich packed high with lettuce, tomato, and cranberry sauce in her hand and a bowl of strawberries in her lap as she leaned back against a tree and watched a bird circle the sky.

“You have any idea how hard you are to track down?”

Darcy’s attention cut toward the voice and found Sam standing a few feet away. “Oh, hey. I didn’t know anyone was looking for me.” She dug her phone out of her pocket and realized the ringer was off. “What’s up?” She started to stand. “Is it the lab war again? I don’t know how many more times I can—”

“Hey, no, nothing about the lab.” Sam crossed the last bit of space and took a seat on the grass, extending his legs out in front of him. “Was just gonna see if you had any lunch yet. Dropped by your office, Jane’s lab, couldn’t find you. I know the brain trust already ate, so I figured it was your turn.”

Darcy hummed, slumping back against the tree and motioning to her lunch. “Yeah. Just needed some peace and quiet.”

“I get it. Place is a madhouse six days out of seven.”

She snorted. “Yeah. When you’re in the thick of it, you don’t always notice, but when you get a chance to stop, it kind of hits you.”

Sam nodded. “You doing all right?”

“Yeah. Just tired. Ready for the weekend, I guess.”

“Good thing it’s Friday then.” He glanced at her, then turned his head toward the compound. “Haven’t seen you around much since we got back.”

“I’ve been keeping busy. How was the mission?”

“Good. _Long_.” He shook his head. “I’ve been on longer, but even a few days can feel like months when they drag.”

“I bet.” Darcy plucked a strawberry out and sunk her teeth into it. “All bad guys are bruised and interrogated though?”

“Yeah, or dead.” Sam leaned until his back met the grass, his head pillowed on his stacked arms. “Hey, sorry I missed our soap yesterday. I got called out to see an old buddy of mine. Army vet, hasn’t been doing so good. Moved over here from DC but he’s having a hard time finding a good support meeting.”

“You point him in the right direction?”

“Did what I could. Got some coffee, talked it through, gave him some numbers to call.” He sighed. “It can be hard, finding your groove with new people, building that trust again.”

Darcy hummed. “What makes it easier?”

“Time. ‘Bout all you can do is just give it some time, let yourself adjust, hope for the best.”

“What if they break your trust? Like, what if you find good people, but they do something to hurt you?”

Sam took a moment to consider that. “Well, for some people, maybe that’s it. Maybe they leave the group and they start over somewhere else. Sometimes, if it's really bad, there’s no going back. So, you move on, you try again, you hope it’s different next time. For others, you confront the issue, work it out, find a solution.”

Darcy picked the crust off her sandwich, bit by bit. “What if you feel dumb for trusting them in the first place? Maybe you feel like it’s mostly your fault.”

“We’ve all got a little ownership in things, Darce. I usually find that talking it out means finding out how much is ours and how much is theirs. Then you just shoulder what’s yours and you make amends or you try better next time. First step is recognizing the issue.”

“So, talking about it then.” She pursed her lips. “That’s the worst part though.”

He opened his eyes to look at her.  “Only hard because it matters.”

Darcy stared at him a beat longer and then looked away. A moment later, she threw a strawberry at his face.

"You know what, if I didn’t want to eat this strawberry, I’d throw it back. As it is, this is just free food for me, so keep on throwing.”

Snorting, Darcy tossed him a second. This one, he caught. “Oh, hey, before I get. How single are you? I know a cute doctor that’s interested.”

Sam perked up and grinned. “Oh yeah?”

“Yup.”

“If that doctor’s Helen Cho, then I’m very single. Feel free to give her my number.”

“Cool, cool.” She bit the end off a strawberry. “Hey, how many doves is too many to release at a wedding?”

* * *

**...**

* * *

 

Darcy sighed as she all but shoved Jane out of the lab, an impatient Ted waiting in the hallway.  “Off you go. Have fun. You can tell me all about it on Sunday.”

Jane stared at her searchingly. “Okay, but if you need me, I’ll have my phone on. I’ll come right back.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m fine.” Darcy gave her one last nudge. “Go!”

Sighing, Jane nodded, and turned to walk with Ted down the hallway.

Alone, Darcy turned to tidying up the last of the paperwork spread across Jane’s desk. She made sure everything was put away where it should be, all the drawers were locked, and not even Jane’s scribbled on napkins were around for anybody to see. When she was done, it was well under the wire of when Steve would usually drop in. Though, after blowing him off last week, she wondered if maybe he had already anticipated she wouldn’t be around this time either. He hadn’t texted back. A little bit of her wondered what he might say if he did. Another part of her told her to let it go and just stop thinking of him at all. In fact, she decided that if he did show up, then she would be honest with him. She would let him know that she thought maybe they were better off doing their own thing, separately. She would avoid cattily throwing Natasha or Peggy’s name into the mix. She would just draw a line, a professional boundary, and Steve would accept it.

It was all very _adult_.

And it all went right out the window when, as Darcy stepped out of the lab, she caught sight of him in the distance, en route to the lab. His head was down and he seemed to be talking to himself, gesturing broadly, and then he shook his head, his feet stuttering to a stop. A beat passed and he was moving again, his shoulders wider and that determined gait back. She had seconds, she guessed, before he would be in front of her. And that was when Darcy learned that maybe she wasn’t as adult as she thought. Either that or she was a coward. Regardless, she ran down the hall and ducked into a dark supply closet. Pressing a hand to her heart, she willed it to slow down, and clasped the other over her mouth, her breathing sounding abnormally loud.

A minute passed, and then another. She wasn’t sure how long she was supposed to stay hiding there. He wasn’t going to wait long, right? God, this was so stupid and embarrassing and ridiculous.

FRIDAY’s voice suddenly asked, in a much quieter voice than Darcy might’ve expected under normal circumstances, “ _Miss Darcy?_ ”

She looked up and her fingers slowly unfolded from her mouth. “Uh… _yes?_ ”

“ _Captain Rogers is wondering where on the property you are currently located. Due to your recent evasive actions, can I presume you would not like him to know?_ ”

Darcy squeezed her eyes shut for a second, and then another. Finally, she said, “Tell him I left the lab for home, FRIDAY. It’s not technically a lie.”

There was a pause before— “ _Okay, Miss Lewis._ ”

She chewed her lip. “FRIDAY?”

“ _Yes, Miss Lewis?_ ”

“Can you tell me when he leaves? I don’t want to…” She sighed, her shoulders drooping. “Please just let me know when the hallway is empty.”

“ _Of course, Miss Lewis_.”

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

Darcy had never had a Manhattan in her life, and yet, here she was, sitting at a bar, stirring a straw in that exact drink. Maria had unceremoniously kidnapped Darcy during her shameful trek from the supply closet to her apartment. A half-hour later and Darcy was at a bar she hadn’t caught the name of, listening to tinny music behind the noise of muffled voices and the crack of pool balls. It wasn’t the posh lounge that Pepper might have picked out, rather it was made for people who wanted to spend their time with friends, drown themselves in a drink, or make a one-night connection with whoever was interested.

Usually, Darcy would be all for unwinding and putting the day behind her, but she couldn’t get her utterly ridiculous escape out of her head. Why couldn’t she just talk to him? Sam said that was the first step. Just lay her cards on the table, ask him why, and then cut her losses. Instead, she’d run and hid. _Ugh_.

“You’re killing my buzz.” Maria leaned back on her stool, her elbows braced against the bar as she cast a quick look around. To the average person, Maria probably looked completely at ease, but Darcy knew she was always on, always looking for an enemy.

“Sorry.” Darcy shifted to see her better, hooking her foot behind her opposite ankle. “And you got all dolled up for tonight too,” she teased.

Maria hadn’t changed out of her jeans and work blouse, the sleeves rolled up, and the top two buttons undone. Rolling her eyes, she raised an eyebrow. “Are we trying to get someone’s attention? Because I have to say... the pickings are slim.”

“I don’t know. There’s a guy checking you out right now and he’s not terrible to look at.”

‘Not terrible’ was an understatement. Tall, tanned, bright green eyes, chiseled jaw, he could be in magazines. And he was currently looking at Maria like he would happily lay himself on the floor for her to step on or over, whichever she pleased.

Maria glanced at him dismissively. “Not my type.”

“Not military enough?”

Maria’s lips kicked up at the corner. “He asked me out for drinks tomorrow night. Had to move it to Tuesday, only day our schedules actually synced up. Well, as long as the world doesn’t implode in between...”

“ _Finally_.” Darcy shook her head. “What took so long?”

Maria snorted. “Like I said, the world likes to implode.”

“So? Rhodey’s usually right there when it happens. He’s a front liner too.”

“I know. I just...” An uncharacteristic nervousness flashed over Maria’s face. “I’ve spent so much time putting work first that it felt weird to consider something else. Not uncomfortable, exactly, just... strange.”

Darcy hummed. “Maybe that’s good though. If he makes you want to put him first, or at least at equal levels of importance, then maybe it’s worth a little strange.”

“Yeah.” Maria sighed. “Maybe. I don’t know. I feel like a prepubescent girl about to go on her first date and I’m worried I’ll do something ridiculous, like get spinach stuck in my braces.”

“I’m sorry, are you telling me that little Maria had braces?”

“Oh, full head gear, yeah.”

“I need photographic evidence.” Darcy sat up a little straighter. “ _Immediately_.”

Maria laughed. “No way. Classified at the highest possible degree.”

Her gaze narrowed. “We’ll see.”

“ _Lewis_... If I ever see my brace-face anywhere in the compound—”

“I bet you were adorable,” Darcy mused, her eyes turned up thoughtfully. “I bet you were a total hard-ass as a kid too and the braces must’ve made it so hard for people to take you seriously. It must’ve driven you crazy.”

Amused more than anything, Maria snorted. “What about you?”

“What about me? With this gap, I definitely didn’t have braces as a kid.”

Maria rolled her eyes. “No. You and Steve. Usually you two are holed up together every Friday, but the last two you’ve been on your own.”

“We weren’t holed up...”

“You spend every evening together in the lab or the common room or when he put together a fire pit so you could glamp.”

“It was hardly glamping.” Darcy rolled her eyes. “And anyway, Sam and Bucky were there too.”

“Yeah, they invited themselves. But that’s beside the point. The last two Fridays, you’ve been on your own. By all accounts, of your own volition, so...”

Darcy took a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. “It’s not a big deal. We were friends and—”

“ _Were?_ ”

Did she really want to talk about this? No. But, she knew Maria wouldn’t let this go. “It was a weird unrequired thing. Just...” Darcy flapped a hand, awkward and dismissive. “He likes someone else and that’s fine, I’m just not a fan of how he handled it.”

Maria stared at her. “How did he handle it?”

Darcy knew that voice. That was Maria’s ‘I’m very good at my job’ voice, which ultimately resulted in someone being surprised by Maria’s efficiency in utterly _destroying_ them. “Thank you for the support, but I really don’t need any help with it. I’m... handling it.”

Maria made a disgruntled noise. “You’re handling it or you’re avoiding it?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes.” Turning in her seat, Maria faced her. “Look, I like Rogers. He’s a good guy and he always gets the job done. Generally, with more damage than I’d like, but I can always rely on him to follow through. That doesn’t mean he’s infallible. In fact, he’s pretty human for a super-soldier. So, he screws up sometimes, and it takes him a while to admit it, but he gets there eventually. If this isn’t one of those situations and he’s done something serious, hurt you in some way, then tell me. I can restrict his access to you, to the labs entirely. I can run interference so you never have to see his face or hear his voice again. And if it’s really serious, I can make him disappear.”

Darcy stared at her a beat. “You’d disappear Captain America for me?”

Maria leaned in. “If what he did was heinous enough to warrant it... Absolutely yes.”

Darcy was touched. Way more than she probably should be when the subtle offer of murder was on the table. “It’s not like that. _Really_. I... got my feelings hurt. I thought there was something there and I was wrong. And now I’m just trying to move past it.” She sighed and pasted on a poorly attempted smile. “Gimme a few weeks and I’ll be back to normal, I promise.”

Staring at her searchingly, Maria took a moment to assess whether she thought Darcy was being honest, and then she nodded, and leaned back.

Darcy reached out and wrapped a hand around Maria’s. “Thank you, though. _Seriously_.”

Maria winked. “Any time, Lewis.”

“ _Ladies_... How’s your evening going?” A man sidled up next to them, smirking as his gaze bounced from Darcy to Maria and down to their joined hands. “There room for one more?”

Darcy took a deep, bracing breath while Maria turned a sharp look on the man.

Reaching out, Darcy poked his arm. “Impressive upper-body strength.”

He flexed and wiggled his eyebrows. “You like that?”

Maria nodded. “It’ll make digging your own grave much quicker.”

Maybe it was the tone or the utter look of _murder_ on Maria’s face, but after a stuttered excuse, the man fled.

Laughing, Darcy lifted her Manhattan up and knocked it against a smirking Maria’s vodka and seven. “Cheers.”

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

On Saturday, Darcy found herself at the same repurposing store she’d visited with Jane the previous Sunday.

Man-Bun greeted her with a grin. “We’re all out of neon signs. They were a bigger hit than expected.”

Darcy smiled. “That’s fine. I was actually wondering if you had any cat clocks. I know it’s not your usual jam, but I’ve already been to like six stores, so now I’m hoping for a miracle.”

His brow furrowed. “Cat clocks?”

“Yeah, with the big eyes, tail that does the—” She made a swishing motion. “You know, old school Felix?”

“Ahh, yeah, I get it.” He held a finger up and then turned on his heel. He was gone for nearly ten minutes, leaving Darcy to wander around, picking up things here or there, followed by a friendly and better-smelling Rufus.

Darcy eventually found herself lingering in front of a gramophone with a modern, and very purple, horn. Next to it was a suitcase turntable that played vinyl. She’d seen something similar on Amazon, but this one had a little more character. It was a real, antique suitcase that had been repurposed to hold the turntable. Her fingers fiddled with one of the brass buckles.

“Music lover?” Man-Bun came to a stop next to her, holding a very familiar cat clock in his hands.

“Aren’t we all?” She grinned at the clock. “You’re a miracle worker.”

“I think my mom used to say I was a junk collector, but I’ll let her know I’ve been upgraded.” He pointed to the turntable. “Interested?”

She glanced at it, considered it a moment, but eventually shook her head. “Maybe next time. Today I’m just here for the cat. It’s an inside joke.”

“Glad I could help.” He handed it over before starting back for the front desk, patting Rufus as he went.

Darcy followed after him. It wasn’t a terrible view. He wasn’t exactly Dorito-shaped, but he had the Farmer’s Market Hot look going for him. “So, you own this place? Or at least stock it?”

“Both.” He turned around at the front desk and tapped in the price to possibly the oldest looking cash register she’d ever seen. “Mom wasn’t totally wrong. I had a habit of collecting anything I saw. The older, the better.” He shrugged. “Learning how to fix it was a little harder, but it keeps my weekends busy.” He bagged up her clock and said, “That’ll be Forty-eight fifty-three.”

“Forty-plus dollars for a clock?” She dug out her wallet. “Does your mom know about this highway robbery?”

He laughed. “She encourages it. Also, it’s vintage.”

Paying him, she took the bag. “I guess it’s worth it. Janey’ll pop a vein when she sees it back in her lab.”

“Lab?”

Darcy paused. “Is that the time?” She stared at a wall of clocks behind him, all of which displayed a completely different time. “I gotta go.”

As she turned to leave, he called out, “Are you busy Friday?”

She stumbled to a stop, which she was fully ready to blame on Rufus, who was walking in front of her, incredibly slowly. “Uh… _what?_ ” When she looked back, Man-Bun was smiling at her and, how unfair, he had dimples.

“Friday. Are you busy?”

She looked away and then back. “I don’t even know your name.”

Maybe it was a trick of the light, but she was pretty sure his eyes were twinkling. “It’s Bryce.”

She pointed at herself. “Darcy.”

He nodded. “Do you like sushi, Darcy?”

“I don’t hate it.”

“Would you like to get some with me this Friday?”

She chewed her lip. “This Friday?”

“Day after Thursday and before Saturday,” he teased.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Okay. Sure, I… I’ll meet you here. Friday. At…?”

“Six?”

She shot a finger gun at him, that she immediately regretted. “Six it is.”

He laughed under his breath. “Great.”

“Great.” Turning, she fled. She didn’t look back. She just speed-walked down the street until she reached her car. Tossing the bag holding the cat-clock to the passenger seat, she let her head fall back against her seat. So, she had a date. On Friday. That would certainly make avoiding and/or forgetting Steve easier…

Right?

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

“So... you ran away?”

Groaning, Darcy flopped back on her living room floor. “Why is that the part you’re focused on? I also got asked on a date.”

Jane waved dismissively. “Why didn’t you confront Steve? Why haven’t you told him to shove his flag right up his perfectly sculpted ass?” She shook her head. “You’ve never shied away from putting jerks in their place before. What makes this different?”

“I’m sorry, ‘perfectly sculpted’?”

“I have _eyes_ , don’t I?” Jane frowned. “Anyway, don’t change the subject. Why’d you hide in the supply closet?”

“I don’t know! I wasn’t ready.”

“It’s been weeks. He deserves to know what he did. Otherwise, how’s he going to learn?”

Darcy sighed. “Why can’t I just ignore him forever? I like that plan. We’ll have split-custody of the boys and never speak again. I won’t even ask for child support.”

Jane rolled her eyes. “Sam and Bucky are not your children.”

“Are you sure?”

“And screw amicable divorces. Burn his stuff on the lawn!”

Darcy smothered a laugh and stared at her best friend with unconcealed affection. “I love vengeful Janey, I really do. Your rage warms a little part of my squishy heart. _But_... Okay, I think the reason I’m avoiding him is because I feel like if I do confront him, then I have to admit the part where I thought something was happening, that I had... _feelings_ for him. And I’m just not prepared for when he’s going to look at me with pity or confusion or whatever. Maybe it’s stupid, but I feel like it’s just easier to pretend it never happened.” She shook her head and hated that her eyes had started to warm and sting. “I just don’t want to feel any more stupid than I already do.”

“You’re _not_ stupid.” Janey reached out and gathered Darcy’s hands in hers. “However you want to handle this, I’ll support you. If you want me to ban him from the labs or never speak his name again or send him into a wormhole nobody could ever trace back to us, I will.”

Darcy half-smiled. “No more wormholes.”

“Not even a _tiiiny_ one?”

She laughed. “Jane!”

“All right, fine.”

“And no shrink-rays.”

Jane sighed. “You’re really tying my hands here, Darcy.”

“You know, I had to give Maria and Pepper a list of all the scientists, ranked from smartest and most likely to become an evil mastermind and I conveniently left yours off of it to keep you safe. But now I’m really starting to wonder about you.”

Jane grinned. “If I ever do take over the planet, you’ll be my second in command.”

Darcy snorted. “Oh, I know.”

* * *

. **..**

* * *

 

Sunday afternoon saw Darcy standing in front of Bucky’s door, knocking. She had the bright idea that instead of spending entirely too much money on store-bought cupcakes, she could just make her own, and she was roping him into being her baking support staff/taste tester that ~~probably~~ couldn’t die from any unintended food poisoning.

After a third knock, the door cracked open, just wide enough for Bucky to peer out at her from narrowed eyes.

 _Bleh-eh-eh-eh_.

Darcy blinked. “Is that a goat?”

He glanced away and then back. “No.”

She stared at him.

With a sigh, he pushed the door open, grabbed her by the shoulder, and yanked her inside. Stumbling to a stop, the door closed behind her, Darcy’s gaze found a small white and tan baby goat in front of her. “What.”

“His name’s Sam.”

Snorting, she looked back at him knowingly. “It is not.”

He smirked. “No. But if Sam ever sees him, that’s what I’m telling him.”

Darcy rolled her eyes and then crouched down, holding her fingers out to the goat. “What’s his real name?”

“Hank.”

“You named a goat _Hank?”_

He pursed his lips. “That’s what the goat farmer called him and it’s the only name he’ll answer to.”

“Right, sure, the goat farmer. Who you bought a goat from. And then tried to hide in your room. At a compound full of spies.”

Bucky shrugged. “It’s worked so far.”

She scrubbed her fingers behind Hank’s ear and grinned when he let out a happy bleat and stomped his tiny hoof. “Is this the ‘thing’ you were doing on Thursday?”

He nodded. “I was only gonna look, see if they wanted some help taking care of ‘em... Next thing I know, I’m smuggling him inside.”

Darcy could just imagine it. A sketchy and intimidating Bucky Barnes walking back into the compound, glaring at everyone he passed just to keep them from noticing the wriggling mass inside his hoodie. She shook her head, more amused than anything. “And nobody’s noticed?”

“They’re busy. As long as I meet Steve at the cafeteria or the gym, he doesn’t drop by a lot. Thinks he’s giving me space or whatever.” He shrugged. “Anyway, Natasha keeps him pretty busy.”

Darcy flinched and immediately tried to cover it by standing up abruptly. “Well, you can’t keep him inside forever. He’s a goat, he wasn’t meant to live in an apartment.”

Bucky sighed and scratched his fingers over his bristly chin. “I take him out sometimes. Mostly at night.”

“Yeah, I can see that going well.” She snorted. “In a few weeks, there’s gonna be a rumor that we’re being haunted by the Goat Man.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “What else am I supposed to do? Can’t take him back now.... We bonded.”

“Bucky Barnes, goat mom.”

He sent her a flat look, but she knew he wasn’t really offended.

“You know, I don’t think they’d kick him out.” She smiled. “He can be like a therapy animal. We can make it official and everything.”

“Therapy animal?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “He makes you feel comfortable, doesn’t he?”

Bucky glanced at Hank, who was kicking his little back legs out and tromping around the floor. “I can’t go back to Wakanda, but having him around feels like I can bring a little bit of that peace here with me.”

“Why can’t you go back?”

He frowned. “They already did enough for me. I don’t wanna be a burden.”

“I don’t think they’d look at it that way.”

“It’s fine. I’m fine here.” He shook his head. “I just wanted something familiar. Something that was just mine.”

“Okay.” Darcy looked to Hank. “Well, the first step in taking care of your best goat is making sure he has access to fresh air. I was gonna make cupcakes, but that can wait. Let’s take him for a walk. If anyone asks, we’ll say the paperwork is in to have him classified as a therapy goat. And I’m pretty sure Steve will back you up to everyone else. Tony has therapy robots. And if he tries to say they don’t shit on the carpet, I call bullshit, because DUM-E makes more messes than he cleans up.”

Bucky ducked his head and hid a smile. “Thanks, doll.”

“You’re welcome.” She crouched down again and grinned at Hank. “And so are you, Buddy.”

Hank butted his head against her knee and Darcy decided she would fight Iron Man in his not-actually-iron suit, bare-fisted, to make sure Hank stayed.

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

Darcy’s luck ran out on Monday.

Jane was napping on the couch, blanket tucked in around her, an angelic force of science.

Darcy had just finished her lunch and was contemplating a nap of her own when a familiar voice said, “Hi.”

She nearly fell out of her chair. Not a good look, obviously. She rearranged her face into something less startled and swivelled around. “Uh, hey.”

Steve shifted his feet, even as his chin tilted a little higher. “I dropped by on Friday, but, uh, _FRIDAY_ said you’d already left.”

“Yeah. It was a long day.” Darcy wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans and then stood. Gathering up the dishes from lunch, she stacked them together and started toward the kitchenette. Rinsing them in the sink, she loaded them into the dish washer, her hair falling over one shoulder. She peeked through it to see Steve standing in the doorway.

“Did I… I mean, I thought…” Steve cleared his throat. “I was here the week before too. I picked up Szechuan like we talked about.”

“Oh yeah?” She closed the dish washer and dried her hands off on a towel. “Was it as good as you hoped?”

“Yeah, it was fine. I had a lot leftover so I ended up sharing it with Natasha. She said she knows another place; guess they make a better kung pao chicken.”

Darcy nodded, and turned around to face him. “Cool.”

He stared at her a beat and then looked away. “I dropped by the common room to watch Cutthroat Kitchen… There were a lot of episodes saved up. I guess it’s been a while since we caught up.”

“Yeah. Jane and I went shopping last week and I was with Bucky yesterday.”

“Oh?” His brows hiked. “How was that?”

“Fine. Good.” Nobody had spotted Hank on their walk, so he would remain a secret until they were able to get him approved as a therapy goat, or until someone noticed, whichever came first. Either way, it was nice to see Bucky connecting to something, reaching out and finding his own healing in whatever way he could. She imagined, when Steve eventually found out, he would be happy for it too.

Steve shifted his feet again, his gaze darting to the glass wall and back. “Look, Darcy, I—”

Uh-oh, that was his _serious_ voice. “Jane’s nap is almost over,” she interrupted. “She’s got kind of a busy day, and I need to start checking in on the other labs, so…”

“Oh, uh, sure. I… I’ll go.” He deflated abruptly and backed up, head ducked. “Will I… I mean, this Friday, I was gonna pick up Mexican.”

“Cool. I really hope you’re going authentic and not like, Taco Bell or something.”

He half-smiled. “No. I tried that once and even my stomach couldn’t take it.”

She snorted. “I bet.” She walked toward her desk. “Well, have fun, wherever you end up.”

Silence filled the room for a tense moment. “You’re not… I mean, I could pick up extra if you—”

“I have a date that night.” She didn’t mean to say it. Or maybe she did. Either way, she blurted it out, quick and painless.

“ _Oh_.”

She wouldn’t look. She couldn’t look. She _refused_ to look.

Okay, she looked.

He was staring just to the right of her, his brow furrowed, mouth pursed. And she had no idea what that meant. It wasn’t like she expected some sudden declaration of love or something. He looked confused more than anything. In a weird way, it was better than seeing him smile at her. He wasn’t happy, but he also didn’t look disappointed. Just confused. What, did he not think she could get a date? Admittedly, she didn’t date a lot. Hadn’t since Ian, really. But, her life was busy and her options were usually limited.

“Who’s the lucky guy?” he wondered, mouth quirked up faintly at the corner.

“His name’s Bryce. He owns a repurposing store. Jane and I met him while we were shopping. He seems nice. And he’s got a dog. I’m pretty sure the dog is just on the cusp of ancient, but he’s friendly.”

Steve nodded. “That’s… great. I’m glad that you… I mean I’m happy… for you.”

“Thanks.”

Steve cleared his throat. “Uh, I guess I’ll see you around. “

“Yeah. See you.”

He stared at her a second and then looked away. “Bye.”  

This time, Darcy did not watch him go. She immediately turned around and started shuffling papers. It was only after, when she heard the lab doors open and close, that she murmured, “He’s gone, right, FRIDAY?”

“ _Captain Rogers is leaving the science floor, Miss Darcy_.”

Darcy blew out a sigh that she was pretty sure was supposed to be more relieved than it actually was. In the end, she just felt tired and sad.

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

Bruce didn’t ask why Darcy needed his meditation room, he just nodded at her as she passed.

Darcy filled the biggest cup she could find with his best tea and then plopped herself on a bean bag chair. She turned off her phone and asked FRIDAY not to bother her for a half-hour, unless there was a Very Serious emergency that needed her attention. Until then, she was going to decompress. She was going to drink a shit-ton of tea. She was going to let Bruce’s CD of… _throat singing?_ soothe her. She was going to sink as deep into the beanbag chair as she physically could. And she was _not_ going to replay her and Steve’s conversation over and over and over in her head.

Three out of four wasn’t bad.

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

Hours later, Darcy was bouncing around Jane’s lab, eager to busy herself so her brain wouldn’t become her worst enemy. Hanging out in Bruce’s lab had helped a little, but she couldn’t stay hidden in there. She had work to do. Scientists to herd. So, she would. She kept them all on their toes, fed and napped when needed and big brains fueled. But, as the day neared its end, she found herself with little to do, and so she went in search of a distraction.  

“You’re acting weird. Jittery. Like you’ve had too much coffee or…” Jane paused. “What happened?”

“What? Nothing. Nothing happened. I just…” Darcy started organizing and reorganizing Jane’s daily napkin collection. “I talked to Steve.”

“You _what?_ When?” Jane gripped the back of her wheelie chair tight. “And I missed it!? Did he cry? Did you taser him?”

“No, of course not! You know, contrary to popular belief, I’ve only tased a few people. And I maintain that Thor kind of deserved it. He was seriously intimidating! Under normal, non-God-related circumstances, that would be a totally expected reaction!”

Jane rolled her eyes. “Did he at least cry?”

“Okay, this blood-thirsty side of you is mildly terrifying.” Darcy abandoned the napkins and started collecting scattered pens and pencils from the desks. “No, he didn’t cry. He just… He was awkward. Really awkward. And I think he was hoping things could just go back to normal, but… They can’t.”

“Did you say that?”

“I… implied it.”

“Implied how?”

“I told him I wouldn’t be here next Friday… because I have a date.”

“You _said_ that?”

Darcy sighed. “Yes. I told him.”

“ _And?”_

“And what? Nothing happened. He told me he was happy for me.” Darcy put all the pens and pencils away in a jar, separated by type, color, and size. “That’s about it. He left after. Haven’t seen him since.”

Jane stared at her a long beat. “Is that… I mean, is that what you wanted?”

Darcy frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Were you hoping for a different reaction?”

“ _No_.” She paused. “No, I… I don’t know. Maybe I thought there would be… _something_. Some indication that he… _cared_ or… something.”

Jane tipped her head, staring at Darcy thoughtfully. “You wanted him to fight for you.”

Darcy’s face flamed and a heavy feeling of mortification flared through her. “This isn’t a rom-com, Jane. I don’t expect the hot hero to suddenly realize the boring girl was beautiful all along. I just… I don’t know what I was expecting. A couple weeks ago, I was so angry, but then he was standing in front of me, looking like a kicked puppy, just trying to pretend everything was normal, and I… I froze. I couldn’t say all the things I’d been thinking. I mean, I’ve fantasized about all the ways I’d tell him that I knew who he really liked, that it wasn’t fair to use me like that, but then he was here and… Suddenly, it wasn’t about that.”

“What was it about?”

Darcy’s shoulders shrugged up to her ears as she abandoned the pen jar and started pacing. “Saving face, I don’t know. I didn’t want him to know he hurt me. I didn’t want him to know I even cared. So, I just… _didn’t_. I didn’t care and I didn’t want him there and so I just blew him off.”

Jane nodded slowly. “Did it help? Did you feel better?”

“I thought I would. I _hoped_ I would.”

“But you didn’t.”

“No. I…” She came to a halt and balled her fists. “Sometimes I wish I never noticed. That I didn’t see him looking at Natasha. That I didn’t hear him call me Peg. That I never…” She shook her head. “Maybe I just wish it was different. That he felt the same way somehow. But that’s stupid too. Because wishes don’t work, right? Shooting stars don’t do anything, birthday candles are just fun to blow out, and wish bones are brittle.”

Jane stared at her a moment. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m the one that expected different.” She sighed and slumped down into a chair. “Can we just put this whole Steve thing behind us? He’ll stop coming around and this whole thing will blow over in a few weeks.”

“Yeah. Sure.” Jane watched her putter around. “You know I just want you to be happy, right? I know I get worked up about everything, but that’s just because I’m angry. We live in a world with magic and aliens and super-soldiers. But me and you… Darcy, we’re human. We’re fragile and breakable and no matter how many worm holes or shrink rays or bridges I build, we’re always going to be just a little more vulnerable than them. So, if I get a little… _ragey_ it’s only because I care about you and I don’t ever want anyone to take advantage of you. I can’t do a lot. But I’ll always do what I can to protect you.”

Darcy chewed her lip, a swell of emotion filling her chest and climbing her throat. “I know.”

Jane rolled her chair closer, until their knees bumped. “Gods and Captains and superheroes, they’ll come and go. But me and you, we’re going to be right here beside each other through all of it. I _promise_.”

Darcy huffed. “I love you too, you big softie.”

Jane grinned. “In all fairness though, I still think worm holes and shrink rays have totally valid uses…”

Darcy groaned. “ _Nerd._ ”

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

Darcy had never officially met Wanda. She’d seen her in passing, but they tended to exist on different levels within the compound. It made sense to Darcy that Wanda would prefer to avoid the science labs. She and her late brother’s abilities had been created in a lab once upon a time and it probably wasn’t a fun experience. Come to think of it, she imagined it took a lot of control and trust for Bucky to visit her in the labs too. She added ‘get Bucky cupcakes’ to her mental to-do list and then refocused on the woman standing a few short feet away, her chin angled up in a false show of bravado. She’d just been standing, awkwardly, in the middle of the hall, which was why Darcy had approached, figuring maybe she was just lost.

“Were you looking for a specific scientist or…?”

Wanda stared at her, slightly wide-eyed, like a deer in headlights.

“I was gonna make a floor map with a little ‘you are here’ dot and each of the labs marked off, but Maria said terrorists could use it against us if they ever break in, so… Paranoia won, I guess.”

With a jerk of her head, Wanda murmured, “No, no scientist.” Her voice was deep and faintly accented. “I am looking for you.”

“Oh.” Darcy paused, glanced away, and then back. “For what?”

Wanda took a deep breath. “I have been… I was told…” She shook her head and pursed her lips. Closing her eyes, she squeezed them shut a beat, and then reopened them, staring at Darcy. “I would like to have more friends. I was told that you might be able to help.”

“Help you find friends?” Darcy blinked. “Who told you that?”

Wanda’s hands balled into fists at her sides that she quickly tucked behind her. “Perhaps this was a mistake. I am sorry if I—”

“Whoa, wait. I’m not… I mean, I’m not rejecting your offer of friendship or something. I’m mostly just… confused, I guess. I think I can count the number of times we’ve seen each other on one hand.”

“I don’t like the labs.” Wanda’s gaze skittered around the glass walls and shiny floor. “It is different from where I was but there are… similar smells and sounds and…”

“I get it.” Darcy tucked her hands in the pockets of her jeans and rocked back on her heels. “I also get how hard it can be to make friends in a place like this. I was lucky, I showed up on the heels of my best friend.” She shrugged. “Finding other people that get it can be a little hard. We’re all kind of stuck in this one place and there aren’t a whole lot of new people that rotate in. Well, unless intergalactic war breaks out and then they’re only around long enough to help kick names and take ass.” She loved when Tony told that story, and seriously regretted never having met Mantis in person. Oh well, maybe next time.

A stilted laugh bubbled up from Wanda. “Yes. That’s why I have been… encouraged to find more friends.”

“Was that by Vision or a well-meaning super-Captain?”

Wanda let out a sigh, her shoulders slumped. “A little of both. Vis wants me to have friends. He worries that I hide too much. That I… bottle things up.” She rolled her eyes. “There’s something very ironic about a man that was previously an AI telling you to connect to your feelings.”

Darcy snorted. “Well, look, I can’t guarantee we’ll hit it off and becomes besties, but I’m willing to try.” She hummed. “Let’s see… I don’t know if I’m due for a manicure yet. Maria usually books those… Me, Sam, and Bucky are doing face masks tomorrow… Oh, hey, what about a movie night? We could skim Netflix, eat our weight in pizza, drink soda and have a burping contest, you know, girl things.”

Wanda smiled slowly. “I would like that, I think.”

“Great. How’s your Wednesday night look?”

She nodded. “I will bring the soda.”

* * *

**…**

* * *

 

“Listen, Hank. When we started this partnership out, you were happy to just eat the kernels at the bottom of the bowl. But if you’re gonna start eating the good popcorn too, I’m gonna need to plan for that by making _more_.”

Hank stared up at her from where he was standing on her lab. “ _Bleh-eh_.”

Darcy sighed. “I know I said I’d share, but you put a lot away for such a tiny dude.” She tossed him a piece of popcorn that bounce off his nose and landed on her stomach. He was quick to eat it up before looking at her for more. “You must take after your dad.”

A knock at the door drew her eye and she called out, “FRIDAY, can you get that?”

The door buzzed before it was pushed open and a slightly sweaty Bucky walked in. He made his way to the couch and leaned over the back, a towel hung around his neck. “Hey.”

She tossed a piece of popcorn into her own mouth. “Hey.”

“ _Bleh-eh-eh_.” Hank trampled his way across Darcy to reach his favorite human.

Bucky grinned, reaching down to scoop Hank up with a metal hand tucked under his stomach. “You miss me?”

“Hardly. We were having a great time.” Darcy sat up and pulled her legs under her. “We watched goat-appropriate TV and ate only the best in microwave popcorn.”

Rolling his eyes, Bucky scrubbed his fingers over the tuft of hair on top of Hank’s head. “Thanks for watching him. I don’t like bringing him to the gym. Too many things that could land on him.”

“Yeah, not to mention nobody else knows he exists.” She raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with leaving him at home for an hour?”

“He’ll get lonely.” Bucky shrugged. “Or eat my couch. It’s a toss-up.”

She laughed. “Well, whatever. As long as I get quality Hank time, I’m not complaining.”

Bucky let Hank down, watching him wander around the apartment for a little while, before his gaze skittered back to Darcy. “Steve was there.”

“What, at the gym? Color me shocked.” She fiddled with the remote, turning off her Netflix. “Can’t let all that too-tight athletic-wear of his go to waste, I guess.”

“He asked about you.”

“Oh yeah? I assume you told him I was cooped up in my apartment with my favorite man.” As if he understood, Hank let out a cheerful bleat. “That’s right, Buddy. You’re my number one.”

Sighing, Bucky threw himself over the back of the couch and settled in on the opposite end, staring at her.

Darcy kept her gaze elsewhere, purposely avoiding him.

“Didn’t take you for a coward, Lewis.”

She turned a fierce glare on him, realizing too late that was what he had been expecting.

He smirked. “What’re you so afraid of, huh?”

She pursed her lips. “Who said I was afraid?”

“I know afraid.” His expression darkened. “I’ve seen it enough in strangers. Prefer to avoid it in my friends.”

Darcy took a deep breath. “I’m not afraid of _you_ , Bucky.”

“Maybe not. But you’re afraid of something.” He pinned her with a knowing stare. “Steve is an idiot—”

“Things they’ll leave out of the TV movie of your romance.”

“—he doesn’t always think things through. But his intention—”

Darcy flinched. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

Bucky’s mouth pursed. “You’re puttin’ me in an awkward place here, Doll.”

“I’m not putting you anywhere.” She climbed off the couch. “I’m your friend. That doesn’t hinge on whether me and Steve are… It doesn’t hinge on him. I’m friends with you because I like you. And he…”

“He what?”

She shook her head. “I just think we’re better off like this.”

Bucky hummed. “I think you’re wrong.”

She looked back at him, half-smiling. “Maybe. But I get to make that choice.”

He stared at her searchingly and then nodded. “Okay.”

“Okay.” She scooped Hank up and brought him back to the couch. “You gonna stay or…?”

“I got time for a few rounds of Rainbow Road if you do.”

A little sigh of relief left her, but she covered it up with grabbing the remotes. “For you, Buck. _Always_.”

He half-grinned at her. “You just wait ‘til I’m blue-shelling your ass.”

“Yeah, we’ll see, Old Man.” She settled onto the couch, Hank in her lap, and controller poised between her hands. “Best two out of three?”

“You’re on.”


	5. Chapter 5

**v.**

“Hope.” Darcy maneuvered her clipboard into her opposite arm. “Please tell me you’re not here because your boyfriend is stuck on shrunk. We currently have a ban on shrinking things.” She pointed to a flyer stuck to the nearest wall by a green, heart-shaped Hulk sticker that made it clear any and all shrink ray building would result in severe consequences. “And I’m afraid de-shrinking is just a little too close to Tony and Jane’s dreams of creating miniature cities of their enemies, where they’ll no doubt break out into a tiny civil war. And I’m not ready for the commitment a tiny village of a-holes would take.” She waved a hand around. “Sometimes I struggle with the a-holes I currently have, and most of them aren’t evil.”

Hope blinked at her. “I’m not here for… any of that.” Her brow furrowed. “But I’ll be sure to keep a closer eye on any tech Scott wants to share with Stark.”

“Always a wise decision.” Darcy nodded. “But if you’re not here for that, what brings you by?”

Standing a little taller, Hope smoothed her hands down the front of her pristine, white button up. “Scott’s been… _hinting_ at spending more time at Avengers HQ. I told him I’d think about it.” She cast her gaze around quickly. “You’re the only person I know here that isn’t…”

“Superpowered?”

“A dick.”

Darcy snorted a laugh. “That works too.”

Hope frowned. “There’s so much testosterone. I don’t know how you do it.”

“Aren’t you the only girl on your team?”

“If I had it my way, I’d be the _only_ member of my team.”

Darcy was half-sure Hope was telling the truth. Obviously, Hope cared about Scott and her dad and the misfit squad of sidekicks they often worked with, but Darcy was also pretty sure that Hope Van Dyne was on the same level as Pepper, Maria, and Helen in how utterly efficient she was. Which meant that if she wanted to go rogue and start up her own team, made up singularly of The Wasp, she could, and Darcy would absolutely trust her to save the world and anybody living in it.

“How long are you visiting?”

“Long enough that Scott can’t say I didn’t try.” Hope shrugged. “You wanna show me around?”

“Sure. I might even try to sell you on the place. We can always use more estrogen.” Hooking her arm through Hope’s, Darcy led her back toward the elevator. “Did I mention there’re free pads and tampons? The bathrooms are always stocked and you can have a monthly delivery set up with FRIDAY, comes with your favorite chocolate.”

Hope’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “All right… I’m listening.”

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

Darcy sat on her desk, smearing a homemade face mask across Bucky’s furrowed brow as he stared past her shoulder at the TV. “All right, Grumpy, I need you to relax your forehead.”

He glanced at her and then let out a sigh, his forehead smoothing out in the process. “Smells like mango… I don’t like mango.”

“It’s got honey in it too, Honey.” She grinned as he rolled his eyes. “Anyway, Sam used up all the avocado.”

“He _ate_ the avocados.”

“Hey, I offered _both_ of you avocado toast!” Sam defended. “You turned me down flat.”

Darcy snorted. “Okay, but I didn’t think you were going to eat the rest if we didn’t.”

“’Zactly,” Bucky muttered.

“All right, I see how it is.” Sam nodded. “Ganging up on me when I’m the one that brought the recipes for these face masks in the first place—”

“Thank your sister for that.” Darcy carefully nudged Bucky’s hair back with her wrist. “Should’ve braided your hair first.”

Bucky hummed. “After.”

“He almost done? My mask is getting itchy.” Sam scraped his fingers around the edge of his chin. “How long’s it been? Can I wash it off or what?”

“You know,” Darcy drawled, “you do a good job of convincing everyone else you’re not the most impatient one, but I’m onto you.”

Snorting, Bucky turned a look on him. “ _See_.”

“I’m not impatient.” At their laughter, Sam clucked his tongue and glared. “I’m not! But I’ve been sitting here in an itchy damn mask for a half hour—”

“It’s been ten minutes.”

“ _Whatever_.” He scratched again. “Starting to think I’m allergic to avocado.”

“You ate it just fine,” Bucky said.

“Well, maybe my stomach and my skin are allergic to different damn things. You think of that?”

“No. I’m not allergic to anything.” Bucky sent him a smug look. “If I was, I wouldn’t be bitching about it, either.”

“Oh, really? You think you don’t bitch? Let me remind you of all the times I’ve had to listen to you—”

“Okay!” Darcy grabbed up a damp rag and wiped her hands. “You’re all done, Buck. Just sit back and let it set.” She shifted down the desk and carefully dabbed at Sam’s mask. It was beginning to crack, especially around his mouth and eyes. “Five more minutes, then you can wash it off.” She grabbed up a bowl of sliced cucumbers, took two out, and then shoved the bowl into his hands. “Here. Eat the rest.” The other two she placed over his eyes before she nudged him to lean back in his chair.

“She’s just trying to shut you up,” Bucky told him.

Taking a deep breath, Sam said, “You’re the reason I need these masks, Elsa. If it wasn’t for you, I’d have the skin of a newborn.” 

Darcy bit her lip so she wouldn’t laugh and then flapped a hand at Bucky as he opened his mouth to argue.

Rolling his eyes, Bucky sat back in his chair, still looking amused.

Exactly two minutes and seventeen seconds passed before Bucky said, “You ever seen a newborn bird? Fugly little things. You’d fit right in.”

Darcy sighed; she really wished she hadn’t taught him what the word ‘fugly’ meant. She leaned out of the way when Sam leapt from his chair to chase Bucky as he fled the office and raced down the hallway, already anticipating the attack.

Taking Bucky’s abandoned seat, Darcy grabbed up the bowl of cucumbers and tossed one in her mouth as she leaned back and focused on the TV. She hated to admit it, but she was pretty sure Bucky was right. That possessed mannequin was, against all scientific explanation, the father of those triplets.

Outside, she heard Sam and Bucky shriek as DUM-E and U started chasing them with a fire extinguisher.

“Darce! _Darcy!_ ”

“Son of a…”

She turned up the volume. 

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

“ _Miss Darcy, Mister Hogan is trying to contact you_ ,” FRIDAY called out, drawing Darcy’s attention from the game of Words with Friends she was playing on her phone as she walked down the hallway.

“Hm? Just a sec, FRIDAY…” She moved a few letters over, spelling ‘quizzical’ out on a triple word space, and smirked. “Beat that, Nick-Nack-Paddy-Whack.” Tucking her phone away, she raised her eyes to the ceiling. “Sorry, what was that?”

“ _Mister Hogan would like your attention on an urgent matter_.”

Darcy nodded. “All right. Patch him through.”

The nearest glass wall suddenly became a screen and Happy Hogan’s irritated face filled it. “There you are. You know how long I’ve been looking for you? Reception around here is crap. Been on hold with THURSDAY since Sunday.”

Darcy raised an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure we have privately owned satellites that make our reception amazing. At least that’s what my Wi-Fi looks like. Anyway, what’s up, Buttercup?”

“Taxes. Gas. My blood pressure.” Happy waved a hand dismissively. “What do you know, you’re a kid.”

“Nearly thirty and have my blood pressure regularly checked due to a high stress job, but okay.” Darcy cocked her head. “FRIDAY said you needed something urgent.”

“Yeah, I need to know who gave that Spider-kid’s little girlfriend my personal phone number!”

“Girlfriend?” She frowned. “I’m gonna need some more details here, Hap.”

“Name’s Michelle…” He raised his phone and squinted at it, his head tipped back and his mouth ajar. “Uhh… Jones. Says to call her MJ.” He shook his head. “How’d I get put on babysitting duty? I’ve been doing this job for a long time. I do this job _well_. I’m head of security, Lewis. Not some glorified babysitter to a bunch of rambunctious teenagers that just wanna see the Hulk smash things, all right?”

Darcy hummed. “Michelle Jones,” she repeated. “I’ve only met Ned Leeds. And as far as I know, Peter isn’t set to visit the compound for another few weeks.”

“When did HQ become a daycare? You know what I mean? Kid’s got acrobatics on his side, but we should probably have an age limit around these parts.”

Darcy smiled. “I hear you. And I’ll pass that thought onto HR. I’m not exactly in charge of the Supers though, so I’m not sure—”

Happy waved it off with a cluck of his tongue. “Listen Kiddo, if Pepper was around, I’d ask her, but she isn’t. Which means I make my way down my list of string pullers. Next in line was Hill, but she’s not taking my calls.” He paused, frowning, “Pretty sure she’s screening ‘em.” He shook it off. “Anyway, that leads me to _you_.”

“Third in line? I’m flattered.” Darcy chewed her lip and tapped her foot. “Okay, just give me a minute, I’ll look into things with Peter and get back to you.”

“Yeah, do that. And if they do need a pick up, send someone else. _Please_. I have better things to do than chauffeur—”

“I know, Hap.” She grinned. “Hey, I heard Tony ordered in a special grill just for you. Said something about a steak?”

Happy’s eyes lit up. “Yeah? You heard that.” He smoothed a hand down his tie, looking rather proud of himself. “I might make a mean steak. You get me out of babysitting duty, I might even make you one, Lew-Lew.”

Darcy winked. “Deal.”

He waved a hand then. “All right, I got work to do. You need me, I’ll be in the garage.” He started stabbing at the screen then, muttering under his breath as he tried to find the ‘off’ button.

“FRIDAY?” Darcy asked.

“ _On it, Miss Lewis._ ”

The call disconnected and Happy’s confused, irritated face disappeared. As she started down the hall, she said, “FRIDAY, connect me to Peter Parker, please.”

“ _Connecting now._ ”

After a few rings, the glass wall beside her lit up, moving down the hall as she went. Peter appeared suddenly, face half-covered in his Spiderman mask, while the one eye she could see was wide and excited. “Miss Lewis! I… _Hey_ … How, uh, how’s it going? Is there… Did someone send out an Assemble order? Because usually Karen would tell me if something was happening or—”

“Nope, no assemble. Not that serious.”

“Oh.” He looked a little disappointed for a second before abruptly perking up. “Okay. Well, what’s up?”

“I just got a call from Happy. He said someone named _MJ_ texted him. Seems to think it’s connected to you.”

“M-MJ?” he stuttered, his face flaring pink. “She… But she doesn’t know…” His brow furrowed. “Why would she…? _How_ did she…? Uh, I…” He looked away. “I need to go. Sorry, Miss Lewis. I- I’ll talk to MJ and find out what she’s… I’ll take care of it.”

“Uh-huh.” Darcy stared at him a beat. “You know, Peter, if you wanted to invite your girlfriend to HQ—”

“I don’t— I mean, she’s not— We’re not…” He flushed a deeper pink. “I have to go now. Sorry!”

With that, he hung up, and Darcy muffled a little laugh. Young love. Cute, but clearly in the early, still awkward stage. Good luck to them, she thought. In the meantime, she was going to make sure some top of the line steaks were being delivered soon.

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

An hour into their girls night and Wanda was sitting on the floor across from Darcy, wearing a cucumber sheet mask while Lilo and Stitch played in the background. She was holding a hand out for Darcy to paint her nails, her other hand carefully placed on her bent knee, legs folded together, letting the nails dry.

“You like the color?” Darcy turned Wanda’s thumb from side to side, admiring the royal blue. “It’ll get darker with a second coat.”

Wanda nodded. “Yes. It’s… different than I’m used to.”

“Black and burgundy more your style?”

Wanda’s mouth tilted in a half-smile. “Usually, yes.”

“Sometimes it’s nice to switch it up.” Darcy shrugged. “Anyway, Bucky always distracts me when I get the nail polish out, but one of these days he’s going to be walking around with lime green nails, and I hope you’ll know that’s a hundred percent on me.”

Wanda snorted. “He would let you?”

“Yeah, I think I remind him of his little sister.” She grinned. “I get away with more than most, I think.”

Humming, Wanda’s gaze fell to her hand. “How did you…?” She paused, her mouth folded in a frown.

“What?” Darcy urged.

Wanda cast an apologetic look at her. “I just wonder… How do you get past the… You know what he did… What I have done… You must have seen it in the news, on TV… But you don’t…” She shook her head, sighing at herself. “You do not flinch.”

“Flinch?” Darcy’s brow furrowed. It took her a minute to figure out what Wanda was trying to say. “I do. At least some of it. I don’t know your whole story, or his. To be fair, I’m not sure anybody knows anyone’s whole story. We all have an abridged version of what everyone else is going through. So, yeah, I know about Strucker’s experiments and the battle in Sokovia and the… blow up in Lagos. Depending on what news outlet you’re watching, it can be pretty biased. For or against you depending on political leanings and whichever way public opinion is tilting.”

“If you know then…” Wanda shook her head. “How can you even contemplate friendship?”

Darcy drew a deep breath. She replaced Wanda’s hand on her knee and took the other to see if her nails were dried enough for a second coat. “When I met Jane, I was a political science student, six credits away from a degree. I still have no idea what I was going to do with it. I traded high school for college looking for some kind of purpose, I think. If I got a degree, maybe it’d show me where I was supposed to be, _who_ I was supposed to be. And it did, kind of. It brought me to Jane. I didn’t know half of what she was trying to do, but I carved out a place for myself anyway. And then Thor happened and SHIELD and before I knew it, I had a totally new path ahead of me… I could’ve gone back to school, gotten a Masters or hit the job market running, but it just didn’t make sense anymore. I knew things, too much maybe, and Jane was trying to create something amazing. She told me I could stay if I wanted to so… I did. Whatever I’d been looking for, I felt like I found it, or part of it. A beginning, I guess.”

Darcy shook her head. “Anyway, to make a long story short, it brought me here. Avengers HQ. It’s a funny thing when you’ve seen Destroyers and Dark Elves, gods and aliens up close and personal, it puts a lot of things into perspective. Like how small you are in the totality of the universe. But Jane, she’s not small. Tony, Bruce, my crazy baby scientists who are all at varying stages of world-altering breakthroughs, they all matter. Maybe even more than me in the bigger picture. And if I can help that in some way, why shouldn’t I? If my whole purpose is just to smooth the way to something bigger, then why not?”

Darcy shrugged. “The more I worked with them though, the more I realized that they’re all just… _people_. Flawed, complicated, intricate people. Incredibly smart and definitely going to do a lot more with their short time on this planet than I ever will, but still just people. And when you start seeing it that way, it gets a lot easier to see everyone else that way too. So, you meet a formerly brainwashed ex-assassin and he can make a grown man cry with one look, but he also loves cupcakes and goats and Spanish soap operas. You meet a hundred-year-old super-soldier that is supposed to be the embodiment of truth and justice and the American way, but he also doubts himself and has nightmares and yells at cooking shows and can eat his weight in take-out.”

She replaced Wanda’s hand, second coat finished on her right hand and raised her gaze to meet Wanda’s. “Powers or no powers, you’re still a person. You want and deserve and need friendship just as much as the rest of us. Maybe even more than most. Because this life, being on call to save the whole damn world whenever things go sideways, that’s heavy. It’s hard. It’s a few shades of terrifying, actually. And if you’re willing to go out there and risk yourself to do it, if you learn from whatever mistakes you do make and try to do even better next time, then you deserve to come back to people who are going to be there to get you through the hard days.”

Wanda took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I had that once. Before… _Before_.” She stared at her searchingly. “Pietro—” her voice wavered. “—he painted my nails for me sometimes. He— He braided my hair and he listened to me about the h-hard days. He…” She blinked quickly against a sheen of tears. “He was my brother, my balance. And I don’t know… Even now, years later, it can be hard to be here without him.” Her mouth trembled. “I love Vis. I love my job. I love the team. But I… I feel lost sometimes. I feel empty. And I don’t know how to make it better.”

Darcy nodded. She rubbed her thumb over the top of Wanda’s shaking hand. “I wish there was a quick fix to it, but grief is one of those things. You feel it until you don’t.”

Sniffling, Wanda reached for her face, but paused just short of it. “I probably look ridiculous right now.”

“Well, the sheet mask does make things a little less intense.” Reaching up, Darcy carefully peeled it off Wanda’s face. “It’s been look enough anyway. How’s it feel?”

“Damp.”

Darcy grinned. “Makes sense.”

Wanda stared at her searchingly. “Steve was right. He said that you would be a good friend. That you would… _listen_.”

Darcy’s chest squeezed, but she was quick to shrug it off. “I’m pretty sure I did a lot of talking.”

“Yes, but… What you said was important.”

“Maybe this time. You should see me on a bad day. Too much coffee and most of what I say is just gibberish.”

Wanda’s expression was serious and earnest as she stared at Darcy searchingly.  “You were wrong about one thing though.”

“Yeah? What’s that?”

“The others will not do more than you in your life. You matter just as much as they do.”

Darcy smiled. “Thanks.”

Wanda nodded. “I do have one more question.”

“Fire away.”

“How do I get invited to the pool parties you and Bruce have? And where do I find the floaties?”

Darcy laughed under her breath. “It’s personal invite only. The next time we have one, I’ll have FRIDAY let you know. And as for floaties, I special order them. Did you have anything specific in mind?”

Wanda hummed. “I trust your judgement.”

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

Thursday morning saw the return of Thor.

Darcy stood on the field outside the compound to greet him. “Hey, if it isn’t my favorite Asgardian prince…” She laughed as he picked her up and swung her around in a hug. “How’s space?”

Dropping her back to her feet, he gripped each of her shoulders. “In more chaos than I would prefer, but I suppose I could say that for Midgard as well.”

“Yeah, well, could be worse. Half of us could be dead.” Her brows hiked. “Have I thanked you for that whole ‘ _fzzpt_ ’ dead thing?”

“Yes, numerous times. You even recorded yourself saying it and sent it to me via cell phone.”

“That’s right, I did.” Darcy snapped her fingers, nodding. “I hope it cheers you up on the bad days.”

“It does, along with the many memes you’ve sent me. I’m proud to hear that I’m an icon to lesbians.”

“Yeah, unexpected but not unwelcome.” She grinned. “How long do we have you earth-side?”

“I’m not sure.” As they walked, he took in the facility and the many new faces that crowded it. “Things have grown in my absence.”

“Yeah, that tends to happen.” She eyed him knowingly. “Jane’s in her lab. She knew you were coming, but, uh, well… I’d say she gets busy, but we both know she’s avoiding you.”

Thor grimaced. “I can’t say I’m not disappointed, but I understand why.”

“Yeah? Does that mean you’ve stopped telling people you broke up with her?”

He half-grinned at her. “I think we both know no one believed me anyway.”

Darcy shrugged. “I get it. Getting dumped sucks. If it helps any, I don’t think she wanted to.”

“I pushed her hand. I forget how differently time passes for you here.”

“Yeah, we’re a short-lived folk.” Darcy hooked her arm through his and patted it. “You know, she’s dating.”

He tensed up. “Oh?”

“His name’s Ted. He’s an accountant.”

“Ted in Accounting,” he repeated, his voice deeper with distaste. “I have dated too, of course. Women of many talents. Smart women. Their minds very… evolved.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And beautiful. In the…” He waved his hand around. “Face and body.”

“Sure.”

“Out of curiosity…”

“Mm-hmm?”

“Accountants. Are they very… attractive in Midgard?”

“You mean in general or Ted in particular?”

“The job of accountant, it is a valued job?” Thor wondered. “Something a Midgardian woman might find attractive?”

“It’s stable.” Darcy shrugged. “Regular hours, good pay, depending on the company or whatever. I mean, reliable is attractive to some people.”

“Yes, I can see why it would be.”

“On a totally arbitrary scale of attractiveness, Ted is… cute. Handsome on a great hair day. Not hard on the eyes, but not exactly a GQ cover.” She patted Thor’s chest reassuringly. “You got him beat there, buddy.”

Thor grinned. “Thank you, Darcy.”

“No problem.” She led him to the cafeteria, as she knew all too well that traveling made Thor hungry. Then again, most things made Thor hungry. “Let’s get some lunch and talk about how you can smooth things over with Janey. Sound good?”

He perked up hopefully. “You think she would be receptive to that?”

“Look, I’m not guaranteeing a love re-connection here. But friendship should be on the table, at least. You were friends before, briefly, in the beginning. Let’s take it from the top and see what happens.”

“All right. I trust your guidance.” He paused and then wondered, “Does this mean I will have to be run over again or may we skip that part?”

Darcy laughed. “No guarantees.”

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

Darcy was just walking out of Tony’s lab when Maria fell into step with her, looking more than a little irritated. “Hey. You okay? Your face is being more emotive than usual.”

Maria snorted. “Just dealing with one complication after the other.” At Darcy’s curious look, she explained, “T’Challa is set to visit in a few weeks. He’s bringing a small contingency of Dora Milaje with him and Okoye won’t stop texting me about holes in my security.”

“Is she right?”

Maria rolled her eyes. “Of course she is. But the fact that someone who’s never been here knows about holes in our security is a little unnerving.”

Darcy nodded. “I’m guessing you’ve been working to plug the holes she’s pointing out.”

“Non-stop.” Maria rubbed her temple. “In between insulting our security, she also sends me Wakandan memes.”

Darcy blinked. “Do you… understand them?”

“No. And she seems to find that even funnier.” Maria shook her head. “She Facetimes me just to see my reaction.”

“Does she ever explain them?”

“No.” Maria gritted her teeth. “Just laughs and hangs up.”

“So… you’re being trolled.”

“ _Constantly_.”

Darcy bit her lip to hide her amusement. “Maybe it’s a hazing ritual, you know? Like, this is how she makes friends.”

Maria sent her a withering look. “I have enough trolls for friends.”

“Hey, that better not be a dig at my outfit. It’s laundry day!”

“No.” Maria rolled her eyes. “You’re a pain in my ass, but you’re not a troll… At least so far. Between Rogers and Natasha, I have enough trolling in my life as it is.”

“I don’t know… Okoye sounds like she’s on a whole other level.”

“Yeah, well.” Maria raised her chin. “I have FRIDAY learning Wakandan and teaching it to me on my downtime.”

“Seriously?”

“It’s not exactly an option on Duolingo.”

“Did you check?”

“Of course I checked!” Maria looked seconds away from stomping her foot in frustration. “I even emailed them to see if they would be adding it.”

“And?”

She scowled. “No.”

“So… you’re learning Wakandan just so you can understand the memes? Because there’s still going to be a cultural gap—”

“I’m learning the language so I can start a meme _war_.” Her eyes narrowed with determination. “And I’m going to _win!_ ”

Darcy sighed. “Sure. Okay. That sounds… _fun_.”

“It does.” Maria grinned, looking rather smug. “Anyway, when’s your break? I’ll buy you a coffee and you can ask me how my date went.”

Perking up, Darcy didn’t even bother glancing at the time. “Now. My break is definitely right now.”

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

“Hey.” Darcy strolled into Tony’s lab. “Remember when you secretly ran my DNA to see if I was a love child you didn’t know about?”

Tony fumbled with the soldering tool in his hand and shoved his protective mask up. “The what test for what?”

Darcy grinned. “Don’t pretend you didn’t double check. I’m a little flattered, actually. I mean, my grades definitely don’t scream Stark heir.”

“No, but your sass does.” He rolled his eyes and pulled off his gloves. “Remind me, how did you know about that?”

She shrugged. “I’ve got my sources.”

He mumbled, “ _Pepper_ ,” under his breath and then sighed. “All right, well, if you know I ran it then you know it came up negative. You will, sadly, not be added to my will, in line to take up the Stark legacy.”

“Yeah, woe is me.” She shrugged. “Anyway, I brought it up for a reason.”

“Oh?” He raised an eyebrow. “Was the test wrong? Are you contesting the science? Have you recently taken up the family ritual of alcoholism and need a father figure to blame it on?”

Darcy waved it off. “Like we don’t both know you’ve severely limited your alcohol intake.”

“My therapist recommended it.”

“Glory be unto her.”

“Get to the point, Squirt.”

“Right. So, I was visiting Helen earlier, where it is always peacefully quiet—”

“Boring,” he muttered.

“—and she was going on about emergency blood supplies and how we should really stock up, especially now that we’re in the low season for disaster and attempted world domination.”

He nodded. “Not a terrible idea.”

“Right. So, then I realized, you and I have the same blood type. A-positive.”

He blinked. “And?”

“And I was thinking, if you were okay with it, I might donate. That way, if you ever get seriously maimed and they need to pump you full of plasma, you’ll have a whole lot of Lewis in you.”

He pulled a face. “Let’s never use that description again.”

Darcy snorted. “Fine.”

Fiddling with a few tools, he said, “Bottom line, you want to donate a few pints to keep my old ticker going if I lose too much?”

“Well, yeah. Helen might’ve mentioned that you didn’t like the idea of having your blood on file.” Her brow furrowed. “Something about eggheads getting the bright idea to somehow create a mini-you? Or something to that effect.”

“Totally valid concern.”

“Uh-huh.” She shook her head. “Since cloning the local lab manager is pretty low on most people’s to-do lists, I figured I could step up and fill in the blanks. Again, only if you’re okay with that. She’d prefer you have your own blood on hand, but you take what you can get, so…”

He stared at her a long beat and then abruptly put his attention back on whatever mess of metal and sparking wires he had in front of him. “Yeah. Sure. That’s fine. I’m not going to talk you out of it. And hey, if you ever get a really bad papercut, the blood’ll be there for your use too.”

Darcy stared at him a beat, amused by his sudden show of disinterest. “Cool. I’ll let Helen know. She’ll probably want you to sign a waiver or something that says you’re all right with having Lewis blood in your Stark veins. But it should be fine.”

“Uh-huh. I got serious work to do here, so…” He waved to the door. “You should skedaddle.”

Rolling her eyes, Darcy made her way to the door. Just as she was walking through, she heard Stark call out to her. “Yeah?”

“How do you feel about Maserati’s? You a fan?”

Darcy blinked. “Don’t buy me a car.”

“Too much horsepower? Don’t tell me you’re a Tesla fan, Lewis. Musk is a pretentious dick.”

Sighing, Darcy turned on her heel. “No car!”

“What about a nice pony?” he shouted after her.

Walking down the hall, Darcy said, “FRIDAY, if Stark tries to buy any luxury vehicles or livestock, make sure you triple check with Pepper.”

“ _Understood, Miss Lewis.”_

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

“I want a Maserati,” Jane muttered under her breath.

“No, you don’t.” Darcy rolled her eyes. “And I know horses freak you out, so don’t say you want a pony either.”

Jane shuddered. “Their eyes are so lifeless.”

Darcy sunk down into the corner of her couch. “You’re so weird, you know that?”

“I knew a girl who had a horse and it bit her nipple off. There one second, gone the next. Had to have surgery to put it back on.” Jane grimaced. “She said it never quite looked right after.”

“I’m not getting a pony, Jane. Put your equine fears to rest.”

Humming, Jane rolled a can of root beer between her hands. “Lab 8 keeps saying they’ve heard goat noises. There’s a rumor going around that someone is starting a secret petting zoo.”

“What? Why?” Darcy shook her head. “Wait, never mind. They heard a goat, huh? Any idea where?”

“No. Just said they could hear it bleating at night. Ines thinks it’s a ghost. That we’re on sacred ground or something.”

“Sacred goat ground?” Darcy didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh. “How does one goat lead to a petting zoo?”

“Could be more than one goat.” Jane shrugged. “And with your pony--”

“I’m not getting a pony!”

“—all we’d need is a pig. Maybe some chickens. A donkey. But no birds. They’re evil.”

“Because they used to be dinosaurs?”

“They _are_ dinosaurs, Darcy! Especially swans. Modernized, maybe, but still dinosaurs.”

“Are you sure you’re drinking _root_ beer?”

Jane waved her off. “I might’ve had a little something before I came over.”

“Like a whole bottle of wine?”

Jane ignored her. “You know what’s a good pet?”

“I can honestly say I have no idea at this point,” Darcy muttered.

“Rats.”

Darcy blinked. “Do I want to know?”

“They’re smart. You can keep them in one contained space and just give them puzzles to work on to keep them busy. And the chances of them biting off your nipple are basically nil.”

“Sure. That’s what I always base my decisions off of.”

Jane nodded, looking rather proud of her assertion. “We should get a rat. For the lab.”

“Ah, the place all rats would want to be. A lab.” Darcy shook her head, amused. “I’ll think about it. In the meantime, you wanna watch some Netflix?”

“Yeah.” Jane slumped lower on the couch. “What’s on?”

“You’re in luck.” Darcy did a little searching and came up with something perfect.

“Feival’s a mouse,” Jane muttered, but her eyes were riveted to the screen, so Darcy called it a win anyway.

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

Darcy was taking her mid-morning break in the common room. Her coffee sat on the table, just out of reach, while Bucky was hunkered down on the floor in front of her. She combed her fingers through his hair while he sat, head bowed forward, eyes closed. She’d considered turning on the TV just to add a little noise to the room, but there was something tense about his body language today. Something that told her he didn’t want noise, that he was searching for a little extra peace. To be fair, she was kind of looking for that too. After all, it was Friday again. Tonight, she would be out with Bryce and far from both HQ and Steve. So, a little peace was exactly what she needed, and what she was getting.

It helped that anyone who wasn’t an Avenger or closely tied to one tended to avoid this common room if any of the team members were in it. She imagined there was something about idolatry at play there. It was easier to admire from afar and not have your hopes dashed when it turned out the Hulk regularly spilled his tea on himself (and didn’t turn green), Iron Man tended to pop out from behind his desk like a meerkat at any suspicious noise, and Captain America swore like a sailor. That or maybe it was fear. Bucky had that effect on a lot of people. Less so on those in the labs these days. It was hard to be afraid of a man you’d seen wrestling with another man while they were both wearing face masks. But for the others, all they saw was blood and murder and death. If only they knew that he had a pet goat and a massive sweet tooth.

Darcy smiled to herself as she started separating his hair for easier braiding. Minutes ticked away in a comfortable silence as her fingers moved steadily through his hair while he leaned against her knees, his fingers tapping at her shoes absently.

There was a noise. Almost too small to even notice. But with the room so quiet, it caught even her attention.

Suddenly, Bucky had a ridiculously large knife out, clutched tight in his hand. Where the hell was even hiding that thing? As quick as he was to ready for attack, his body relaxed an instant later.

Darcy’s gaze moved from the knife, now falling limply to his side, to the cause of the noise, which was—

“Steve.” Bucky cocked his head and stared at his friend. “You need to work on your sneaking.”

Steve shifted his feet and then rolled his eyes. “Wasn’t sneaking. Just dropped by for coffee.” He waved a mug. “Nice hair.”

Bucky leaned back lazily, resting his weight against Darcy’s knees. “If you’re nice, maybe Darcy’ll braid that beard of yours.”

Steve hummed, his gaze centered on his mug as he filled it. “Maybe next time. Hey, you heard anything about a goat wandering around the facility? I’m getting calls from HR that people are putting in complaints about mysterious ‘bleating.’” His brow furrowed. “How the hell would a goat make its way out here?”

“It’s a real mystery,” Darcy murmured.

Bucky nudged her foot. “They’re putting in complaints?”

“Jane said Ines in Lab 8 thinks it’s a ghost.” At their joint flat stares, Darcy shrugged. “I didn’t say she was right. I’m just telling you the office gossip. Which, this week, is ghost goats.”

Steve drew a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. “Ghost goats. My life was never this weird.”

“Wasn’t it?” Darcy quirked her head. “You took a growth serum, punched Hitler a few hundred times, fought a guy with a literal red skull, crashed a plane, were preserved in ice for seventy-something years, fought an alien invasion, found your brainwashed best friend back from the dead, fought an apocalyptic robot, fought and lost alien war number two, fought a _third_ war, won, reversed time to bring back the dead, and now we’re here... talking about ghost goats. So... I don’t know. Was life ever _not_ weird for you?”

Steve stared at her a long moment.

Bucky, however, choked on a laugh. “Really puts things into perspective, doll.”

Steve flinched, blinked, and looked away.

Darcy felt like she’d shoved not only her foot, but her whole leg in her mouth. Laying out his history like that was probably insensitive. Even if she was mad at him, this was not the best way to get things back on some kind of even keel.

“Yeah. It does.” Steve cleared his throat and then waved his mug for them to see. “I’m gonna go.”

“Respect any goats you find, punk. Ghost or not,” Bucky called after him.

Steve’s muttered, “Fuck off,” brought an amused grin to Bucky’s lips.

“You get a special kind of feeling out of bugging him?” Darcy wondered.

Bucky shrugged. “Little bit, yeah.” He tipped his head back to see her. “Good way to remind us we’re both alive.”

She stared down at him. “You wonder sometimes?”

“More than I’d like to.” He frowned. “Imagine he does too.”

Darcy’s gaze moved back to the empty doorway. A sad weight pushing down on her chest. A beat later, however, she reminded herself that Steve Rogers was not hers to worry over. She returned her attention to Bucky and squeezed his shoulders. “Tip your head to the left, I’ve still got one more braid to do.”

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

Darcy grinned as she stepped into Helen’s lab. “Nice flowers.”

Helen looked up from the bouquet of daffodils she’d had her face buried in. Bright spots bloomed on her cheeks as she avoided looking at Darcy. “Thanks.” She reached up to tuck a piece of stray hair behind her ear as she busied herself tidying up her desk. “Sam sent them to me.”

She snorted. “And Bucky said Sam had no game.”

Helen rubbed a petal between her fingers. “Daffodils are my favorite.” Her nose wrinkled. “I watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as a kid and I always loved how the daffodils became a cup and saucer. It always stuck with me, I don’t know. Fills me with nostalgia.”

“Cool. I wanted to join the Oompa Loompa army and drink the chocolate lake, but we all have our goals.” She joined Helen at the desk and plucked the card from the flowers. “ _Dearest Helen, let’s make beautiful blasian babies. Sam_.”

Helen rolled her eyes. “That’s not what it says at all.”

“No, but it’s what he’s thinking. And he’s not wrong. Your kids are going to be the _cutest_.”

“We haven’t even had a first date!”

Darcy rolled her eyes. “According to this, that’s on the schedule for Saturday.” She hip-checked Helen and grinned at the smile blooming on her face. “So? Where ya going? What’re you wearing?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged her shoulders up to her ears. “He didn’t say.” Panic streaked across her face. “What if I wear the wrong thing? Or I’m allergic to the food! Or—”

“You’re allergic to bees. Where do they serve sautéed _bees?”_

“I don’t know! Probably some overpriced fusion place in a gentrified neighborhood!” 

“Okay, probably not wrong.” Darcy snorted. “But, you really think Sam’s going to take you to one of those?”

“No. No, you’re right. He wouldn’t.” Helen nodded quickly. “I still have no idea what to wear though.”

Darcy shrugged. “Okay, well, why don’t we go shopping on Saturday? Janey’ll be pooped from her date with Ted, so I’ll have the whole day.”

“Really? You wouldn’t mind?”

“No way. I’m always up for shopping.”

Helen blew out a heavy breath. “Okay. Thank you. Seriously! I haven’t been on a date in, well... Let’s just say it’s been a while.”

“Yeah, same.” Darcy paused. “Looks like we’re both breaking a streak.”

“Oh? You and the good Captain made it official then?”

“What?” Darcy hated the ‘squeak’ her voice made. “ _No_. We don’t… He’s not…” She shifted her feet. “I have a date with a guy I met in town. Tonight, actually.”

Helen paused, her brow furrowed. “Oh. I just thought…”

“Yeah, well, it’s not like that.”

Helen hummed. “Okay. So, who’s the new guy then?” She smiled encouragingly. “Tell me about him.”

“I don’t know a whole lot. Haven’t had a chance to grill him on the important stuff. Actually, come to think of it, I don’t even know his last name.”

Helen frowned.

Darcy was quick to wave a hand. “It’s fine. Pre-SHIELD and Avengers, dating wasn’t so hush-hush, you know? Now it’s all ‘paranoia this’ and ‘secret agent that.’ He’s just a normal guy and I’m going on a totally normal date.”

Helen stared at her a beat and then said, “Fine. But you should still text us a picture of his face, an address for wherever you end up, and periodic updates on where and how you are.”

Darcy grinned then. “Sure, _mom_. I’ll do most of that. As long as you promise not to send the whole team in if I miss a check-in time by like, a few minutes.”

Helen shrugged. “A few minutes, no. An hour and I’ll send out an assemble order.”

Darcy saluted. “Duly noted.”

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

Darcy’s coffee break saw her hanging out in Bucky’s apartment while he bustled around his kitchen, attempting to make cupcakes from scratch. Tucked in the corner of Bucky’s couch with her lap full of Hank, she was feeling pretty good. He’d eaten almost all of the sliced-up watermelon she’d brought for a snack, but she could hardly be expected to hold a grudge.

“You’re gonna spoil him,” Bucky said, carefully cracking eggs into his dry mix. “He tried to eat half my dinner last night.”

“Whatever. You’re a pushover for this handsome face.” Darcy scrubbed her fingers against Hank’s cheek. “Did you share?”

“Pretty sure he ate more than I did.”

She snorted. “Now I _know_ you’re exaggerating.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “Fine. But he ate all my corn.”

“You should be happy. Any other dad would be glad their kid likes veggies.”

He shook his head, amused. “Steve still hasn’t noticed him.”

“You should just show up to a debrief with him one day, see what they say.”

A slow grin pulled at his mouth. “Maybe I will.”

“You hear that, Hank the Tank?” She petted her hands down his back, one after the other. “You’re gonna make your debut soon!”

 _“Bleh-eh-eh_.”

“That’s right. We should get you all trussed up. A bath, a haircut, a nice new bell. Wax those little hooves up ‘til they _shine_.”

Hank bounced in her lap, clearly getting excited by the tone of her voice, his little legs kicking cheerfully. She swore she fell more in love with him every time she saw him.

“Okay, new plan.” Darcy fluffed the tuft of hair on top of Hank’s head. “We don’t tell anyone anything. We let the ghost goat story weed out the wimps and we hoard Hank all to ourselves. If anyone starts to suspect anything, we take Hank and run. We start a goat farm somewhere else, somewhere warm, and he can live out his days with a few dozen adopted brothers and sisters. We change our names to Henry and Hannah Hanks. All of our goats names start with H. We become that weird family up the hill that nobody wants to talk to, but that’s fine. Because we have our goats.”

Bucky stared at her a beat. “This farm gonna have cable? I don’t wanna miss my soap.”

Darcy shook her head. “Who do you think I am? Of course it’ll have cable.”

He hummed, gently stirring his cupcake mix. “All right. Works for me.”

“Great. I’ll keep an eye out for any potential farm sites for us to start our new life as goat herders.”

“See if you can find one with an orchard. Hank’s an apple guy.”

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

“So, what’s this I hear about you got a _date?”_ Sam reached across the table and stabbed his fork through a bite of Darcy’s chicken parm.  “Don’t tell me it’s Jim in medical. That guy’s a dick.”

“No, it’s not Jim.” Darcy fended off his fork as he reached in for another bite. “It’s nobody here. I met him in town.”

Sam paused, his gaze narrowed. “Has he been vetted?”

“Seriously?”

Sam leaned forward, arms resting on the table. “Look, I’m all for you spreading your wings and picking up a townie—”

“Townie?” Her brow furrowed. “Did HQ become Footloose or something?”

“—but we need to know he’s not a plant. HYDRA, AIM, splinter groups. It’s not as simple as it should be. It sucks. But it’s gotta be done.”

“Okay… His name is Bryce. He owns and operates a repurposed furniture store called ‘Second Chance.’”

Sam snorted. “Creative.”

She rolled her eyes. “He’s a nice guy.”

“Don’t those finish last?”

Darcy knocked his fork away again. “How’d you hear I have a date? Was it Helen? Are you two already _that_ couple that tells each other everything?”

“Nope. Not Helen. Steve mentioned it. He’s been putting in more time in the gym. He only does that when he’s in a mood.”

“What mood is that?”

Sam stared at her a beat. “You don’t strike me as dumb, Lewis.”

“I’m not.”

“Then why play at it?”

She cocked her head. “Steve and I were friends. If that.”

“ _Were?”_

She sighed. “It’s complicated.”

Quicker than he had any right to be, he struck out and stole another piece of her chicken. “So, uncomplicate it for me.”

Darcy glared at him witheringly. “I’m sorry, Doctor Wilson, did I schedule a therapy session with my lunch?”

He snorted. “Okay, all right, I might’ve overstepped a boundary there.”

Loosening up her shoulders, she tried to shake it off. “It’s fine. You’re friends. I get it.”

“Guess I was just confused. Thought you two were gettin’ pretty close. Steve keeps a tight lid on things. It was good to see him reaching out, expanding his social circle.”

Darcy hummed. “Do you put his art on your fridge and talk him up to the other soccer moms?”

Sam grinned, a bark of a laugh leaving him. “I can see why you and Barnes get along.”

Darcy shrugged. “I’m surprised you two don’t considering you—” She smacked her fork down against his hand as it reached for her plate again. “—are both sneaky little food thieves.”

Wringing out his hand, he just smiled. “Sharing is caring, Lewis.”

“And thievery will be dealt with accordingly, Son of Wil.”

She laughed, _shameless_ , as he groaned.

* * *

  ** _…_**

* * *

 

There was a growing pile of clothes on Darcy’s bed, all of it discarded as ‘not good enough.’

“What’s wrong with this one?” Jane picked up a plum-colored dress. “Jaws dropped when you wore this to the Christmas party.”

“Too flashy.” Darcy shook her head. “Anyway, I don’t wanna wear a dress. I’m thinking something a little more casual, like a skirt and a nice blouse.”

“Where are you going?”

“We’re getting sushi.” She paused. “Is a skirt over the top? Maybe some nice pants. Like, pressed pants, with the crease…” She snapped her fingers. “Or hey, what about those suede leggings? Those are cute, right? They make my butt look awesome.”

“Yeah, they’re fine. Darcy—”

“And this!” She pulled out a simple white blouse with bell sleeves. “Not too flashy. Casual. I like it. I’ll just have to be careful with the soy sauce.”

Jane watched her start digging around in her closet, searching for a good pair of boots. “Left… more left… those.”

Darcy held up a half-black, half-cheetah print pair of boots. “Seriously?”

Jane smirked.

Rolling her eyes, Darcy tossed them away, and eventually settled on a pair of black ankle boots. “There. Outfit complete.”

Jane raised an eyebrow. “Are you nervous or does this guy deserve maximum effort?”

Darcy took a seat on the edge of her bed. “This is a good thing. And if I’m nervous it’s because I haven’t been on a date in a while. Like _years_.”

“World-ending apocalypse can have that effect.”

“You literally have a standing Friday night date.”

“Well, we’re not _currently_ facing down world-ending doom…”

Darcy paused. “Hey, how _is_ Ted? I feel like I only see him when he picks you up.”

Jane shrugged. “He’s fine.”

When she offered nothing more, Darcy raised an eyebrow. “That’s it?”

Jane started folding the clothes nearest to her. “He’s busy and he tells a lot of stories about the weird things Barton tries to write off as necessary expenses, but otherwise, yeah. He’s fine.”

“Okay, well, how is your relationship?”

Jane pulled a face.

“What does that mean?”

“What?” Jane glanced at her and then back to a stain she was picking at on a blouse. “Is this mustard?”

“Oh, I only wear that one with scarves. It’s a nice blouse. I don’t want to get rid of it if I don’t have to. Strategic placement, Janey. It’s a thing.” She shrugged. “Anyway, don’t change the subject. You made a face when I said ‘relationship.’”

Jane mouth twisted up and her nose scrunched.

“Yeah, that face. Like you just smelled something funky, and don’t blame it on my mustard blouse.”

Sighing, Jane shrugged. “I just don’t think that word fits for what Ted and I… are.”

“You’ve been dating for months. He sent you a bouquet of peonies for your six-month anniversary.”

“Yeah, and I spent the whole day sneezing and had to see Helen when I couldn’t catch my breath.”

“Talk about a terrible way to find out you’re allergic.” Darcy shrugged. “It’s the sentiment though, right?”

Shoving up from the bed, Jane busied herself with re-hanging Darcy’s clothes. “Maybe I’m not ready for a relationship. I like the casual dating thing. I get food, a little company, and the sex isn’t bad.”

“‘Isn’t bad.’ Wow, you could write for Playgirl with that kind of language.”

Jane rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean…”

“That he isn’t at Thor’s level of godly bedroom acrobatics. Yeah, I picked up on that.” Darcy eyed her curiously. “So, is Thor the reason you don’t want to get too serious with Ted or is there something else?”

“Why would this have anything to do with Thor? We’ve been over for a while.”

“Sure, but that doesn’t mean the feelings just go away. You and Thor were pretty special. And I know you loved him, even if the long-distance dating was on a whole other level.”

“It wasn’t just the distance.” Voice soft, Jane returned to the bed and sunk down, her shoulders slumped. “It was the feeling that he had a whole other life out there, one that I couldn’t be a part of. No matter how hard I worked, no matter how many bridges I made, the divide would always be there.”

“So, now you have Mr. Reliable in Ted, but that’s not working either. Why’s that?”

Jane shook her head. “You know what I miss most about Thor? And no, it wasn’t the sex or the muscles or the whole alien prince thing.”

“What then?”

“He made me laugh. He laughed at my jokes. Even when he didn’t get them, he just _tried_. When he looked at me, I felt like he was _seeing_ me. And he was so smart. More than anybody gives him credit for.”

“And Ted doesn’t make you laugh?”

“Ted is… kind and smart and always on time.”

Darcy hummed. “Do you want a boyfriend or an alarm clock?”

Jane frowned. “That’s not fair.”

“Nope. But life’s not fair. And spending yours wishing you were with someone else and not just talking it out with him is kind of a shitty way to live.”

Jane frowned at her. “It’s not that simple, Darcy.”

“Maybe not. But you could at least _try_.” She hopped off her bed then. “FRIDAY, where is Thor?”

“ _Thor is in the training gym with the Hulk, Miss Lewis. Would you like me to inform him you are looking for him?”_

“No, thanks, FRIDAY.” She turned to Jane. “I gotta get ready for my date. And so do you… Unless you plan on being somewhere else tonight.”

Jane stared at her a long beat and then turned on her heel to leave.

“I love youuu…” Darcy called after her.

“Love you too,” Jane grumbled, yanking the door closed behind her.

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

Darcy always forgot how much she loved sushi until she was eating it again. “ _Oh-mah-gah_ ,” she murmured through a mouthful.

Bryce grinned. “Good, right?”

Swallowing, she nodded. “Yeah. Definitely. How’d you find this place?”

“A friend of mine owns it.” He shrugged. “I’m part of a small business club; we meet every month.”

Darcy blinked. “Seriously?”

“Yup. We advertise for each other and try to get the word out to tourists. Cheaper than a billboard.”

“Whatever works, I guess.” She sipped at her water, topped with orange and lemon slices. “So, did you grow up here?”

“Born and raised. How about you?”

“Nope. Small town girl. Moved here for work-related purposes.” She shrugged. “Not that I’m complaining. I think I’ve adapted pretty well.”

“So, what kind of work do you do?” He picked up a piece of sushi and popped it in his mouth, reaching up to cover his mouth as he chewed.

Darcy paused. “I’m a manager. I manage things.”

“What kind of things?”

“People.”

“Okay.” He smiled. “I get the feeling you don’t like talking about work.”

“I like to leave it at the door is all.” She shrugged. “I like what I do, but I don’t want it to define me.”

He nodded and then pointed his chopsticks at her. “All right, favorite Disney movie?”

She smiled. “Animated or live-action?”

* * *

 …

* * *

 

Bucky sat on a roof, dressed in all black, his legs dangling over the edge of a red brick wall. He had the perfect view from here. In fact, with a little adjustment, this would be the perfect vantage point for a headshot. Clear line of sight, easy exit strategy, limited civilian presence.

He wasn’t going to kill anyone tonight. Or, at least, he didn’t think he was. It would depend on whether Bryce Williams, small business owner, remained a perfect gentleman.

He had two guns and a hunting knife on him.

Disposing of Williams wouldn’t be difficult, at least not in the most basic sense. He had no combat experience and would likely panic if faced with the possibility of his own death. On a more ethical scale, Bucky could see himself hesitating. Killing people was not his objective any more. Not unless necessary. He was still a soldier after all. People were bound to die at his hands. But Williams was a civilian. An untrained civilian who, for all intents and purposes, may have simply asked the wrong woman on a date.

There was a whoosh of air that Bucky had, _unfortunately_ , become all too familiar with. Sighing, he refused to turn around. He wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

Sam joined him on the ledge, his wings tucked back inside the pack strapped to his back. “You know this is creepy, right?”

Bucky didn’t answer.

“You’re not getting frosty on me, are you? Because I’ve had a long damn week and a very important date tomorrow. I don’t feel like dragging your stubborn ass back to base.” He turned and stared at him. “But I will, if I have to.”

Bucky rolled his eyes. “I know exactly what I’m doing.”

“Yeah, and what is that?”

“Keeping an eye on her.”

Sam hummed. “You got a reason to think her date isn’t on the up and up?”

“Does wearing Christmas socks in June count?”

Sam snorted. “No.”

Bucky frowned. “She’s nice.”

“Yeah, she is.”

“Too nice.”

Sam sighed.

“She befriended me when everybody else ran.”

“I’m pretty sure _you_ befriended _her_ with _my_ cupcakes.”

Bucky’s mouth twitched. “She accepted.”

Sam shook his head. “So, you repay her by spying on her date?”

“She shouldn’t be here.”

“I don’t know, man. I’ve heard good things about this sushi place. And if she likes this Bryce guy—”

“She doesn’t. She’s just hurt because Steve is a jackass.”

Sam blinked at him. “You know somethin’ I don’t know?”

“Yeah. Steve is shit with women.”

Sam snorted. “I knew that.”

“He’s gotten worse.” Bucky dropped his gaze to the gun he was cleaning, bullets lined up on the ledge beside him. “I wasn’t going to kill him. Not unless he deserved it.”

“Yeah? And what would he have to do to deserve it?”

Bucky turned to look at him. “Disrespect her.”

Sam stared back. “For a guy who smuggled a pet goat into his room and eats his weight in cupcakes, you still wrestle with your dark side on the regular, don’t you, Barnes?”

“At least it’s for a good cause this time.” He turned his gaze back to the restaurant. “And if you tell anyone about Hank I’ll make you eat your wings.”

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

Thor stood next to Jane, his hands tucked behind his back. “I must admit, when you invited me to your lab, this wasn’t what I expected.” He half-smiled. “Is that your old desk? I have some… fond memories of that desk.”

Jane nodded absently. “Hey, sorry I interrupted your thing with Hulk.”

“We were sparring.”

“Right, that. It’s just… Darcy said something earlier. Well, she said a lot of things. But it got me thinking…”

“All right.” He nodded. “What did she say?”

“That not spending your life with the person you want to be with is a waste of it, or something to that affect.”

Thor nodded slowly. “I have to agree with her.”

“Yeah, but she isn’t taking her own advice. She doesn’t want to be with _Bryce_. His dog smells like… well, wet dog.” She shook her head. “It’s just… Okay, so I’ve been firmly on Darcy’s side with this whole Darcy-Steve thing.”

“Darcy-Steve? I was unaware that—”

“They weren’t together. Not really. But there was an _implication_ …” Jane grabbed up a bottle of cleaner and a much-used rag to wipe away the writing that spanned a large pane of glass. “The more I think about it though, the less sense it makes.”

“I’m afraid I’m not following…”

Jane discarded the cleaner and rag and put her hands on her hips. “All right. FRIDAY, is it clear enough to project what you need?”

“ _Indeed, Doctor Foster_.”

“Can you bring up the security footage from Monday, when Captain Rogers was here?”

“ _One moment, please_.”

Thirty seconds later, the screen lit up with a ceiling angle of Darcy and Steve Rogers in the lab, hovering near her desk.

“FRIDAY, fast forward to when Rogers is asking Darcy if she’ll be around, something about Szechuan food.”

The images on the screen changed before abruptly stopping.

“Play.”

_Steve Rogers shifted his feet, his hands gripping his belt. “I dropped by on Friday, but, uh, FRIDAY said you’d already left.”_

_“Yeah. It was a long day.” Darcy wiped her hands on her jeans and then stood. Gathering up the dishes from lunch, she stacked them together and started toward the kitchenette._

The view changed to a different camera, tucked in the corner of the kitchenette. It gave a better view of Steve’s face.

_Darcy was rinsing the dishes in the sink and putting them away in the dish washer._

_Steve stood in the doorway, watching her, his mouth opening and closing, no sound heard. Finally, he said, “Did I… I mean, I thought…” Steve cleared his throat. “I picked up Szechuan, like we talked about.”_

Jane could see the wince on his face.

_“Oh yeah?” Darcy closed the dish washer and dried her hands off on a towel, her back still to him. “Was it as good as you hoped?”_

_Steve sighed, his whole chest filling and deflating. “Yeah, it was fine.”_

Jane frowned. “Not this part. Fast forward, FRIDAY. To where Rogers asks Darcy if she’ll be there Friday.”

The screen darted forward, but not by much.

It stopped on Steve, showing him backing out of the kitchenette, his head ducked.

_“Will I… I mean, this Friday. I was gonna pick up Mexican.”_

_“Cool.” Darcy walked past him._

The view changed, returning to the lab camera.

_“I really hope you’re going authentic and not like, Taco Bell or something.”_

_Steve walked with her, half-smiling. “No. I tried that once and even my stomach couldn’t take it.”_

_Darcy snorted. “I bet.” She walked toward her desk, her back to him once more. “Well, have fun, wherever you end up.”_

_Steve stared at her back, his brows arched. His hands fell to his sides, fingers squeezed into his palm a moment before opening and flexing. “You’re not… I mean, I could pick up extra if you—”_

_“I have a date that night.”_

_Steve blinked, his brow furrowed and then flattened, his mouth up and then low._ **“Oh.”**

“Pause, FRIDAY.”

The screen went still. Jane started at it, at Steve. “Replay, FRIDAY. But just the last three seconds.”

She watched it play, repeating that small portion, over and over again.

“Jane?” Thor asked. 

 Jane continued to stare at the video feed, her brow furrowed and her eyes squinted. “Is it just me or did Steve Rogers just Ralph Wiggum?”

Thor stared at her. “I am not familiar with this colloquialism.”

“Darcy loves The Simpsons. She says it raised her,” Jane murmured absently. “Anyway, there’s an episode where Lisa gives Ralph a valentine to cheer him up and he kind of falls for her and Lisa goes along with it so she doesn’t hurt him. But eventually, she snaps and tells him she doesn’t like him and that she gave him the valentine out of pity. And you can actually see the exact moment that his heart breaks. Bart rewinds and plays it over again to show Lisa. She feels awful, but that’s beside the point.”

Thor nodded slowly. “I do not know who these people are, but I believe I understand what you mean. The Captain has fallen for Darcy and when she rejected his offer of a meal together in favor of another man, he was heartbroken.”

“Yeah…” Jane frowned. “What I don’t get is why.”

“Do you not think Darcy would be a fair match for the Captain?” 

She snorted. “I think she’s too _good_ for Captain Asshat.” Whirling around, she scowled at Thor. “He led her on. He was spending time with her to make Natasha Romanoff jealous.”

Thor cocked his head thoughtfully. “That does not sound like the Captain I know.”

“Well, it is. Maybe he’s not as righteous as you think.”

“Righteous is a fitting word, but not the first one I would use to describe him.” Thor stared at her searchingly. “And his feelings for the Widow have never been amorous, not so far as I could see.” He smirked then. “And as a God of Fertility, I think I would know.”

Jane rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t change facts. And anyway, you haven’t exactly been around to see the situation through unbiased eyes.”

“And are your eyes unbiased, Jane?” Thor raised an eyebrow. “You know the story from Darcy’s perspective.”

Jane’s hands found her hips. “Are you calling her a liar?”

He smiled gently. “I am saying that we do not know all the facts, and it’s possible Darcy doesn’t either.” He shrugged. “I know Steven well. He is my friend and so is Darcy.”

“ _She_ was your friend long before he was.”

“My loyalty will not be split between them. I want what’s best for both of them. If what you see here is true, then is it not possible that the situation between the Captain, Darcy, and the Widow may be more complicated than it seems at first glance?”

Jane crossed her arms. “You didn’t have to hold Darcy while she cried.”

Thor winced. “I did not, and I regret I wasn’t here to comfort her.” He stared at her searchingly. “I regret many things of late.”

Jane looked away. Shaking her head, she said, “Look, you’re right, I don’t know Captain Rogers very well. But my loyalty is to Darcy, and he’s already hurt her. Intentional or not.”

“We cannot avoid pain nor heartbreak. But sometimes, we can mend it.” He stared at her knowingly. “And I do not think you would go through this kind of effort if you did not believe something was amiss.”

Jane pursed her lips and returned her attention to the television screen. “I just have questions, that’s all.”

He smiled fondly at her back. “And a question from you must always find its answer.”

* * *

  **…**

* * *

 

It was after midnight by the time Darcy made it back to the compound. After sushi, she and Bryce had gone to a movie, picked up fro-yo on the way out, and then walked back to his store. He had an apartment upstairs and he asked her in for coffee. She very seriously considered saying yes. She deserved a night of sex and Bryce was the kind of guy that she could have fun with. Not too serious, open to guidance, willing to laugh at leg cramps and terrible sex faces. But, she had a three-date rule, and she kind of wanted to see a second date, at least.

When she got back, the compound was mostly dark. Security lights were always up and operating, but the inner hallways were lit dimly. She made her way inside, holding her shoes in her hands, her feet a little sore. She’d group texted Jane, Helen, and Maria periodically to let them know she was okay and didn’t need any ‘emergencies’ to duck out early.

A little tired, Darcy was content to head back to her room, take a shower, and climb into bed. En route, however, those plans changed.

She was passing by the common room when she spotted him. Sitting at the kitchen island, his shoulders hunched, a bottle of beer in front of him, and an air of defeat that seemed incongruent with who he was.

Darcy paused.

She should leave him alone. This, reaching out, it wasn’t her place. Not when she was building boundaries and putting up walls and keeping her distance. For good reason, too.

He scrubbed a hand over his face then, looking tired and, well, _sad_.

Darcy’s feet were moving before her head had quite caught up. This was a stupid idea. She shouldn’t be engaging with him. Not even on a friendly basis.

But, there she was, standing on the other side of the island. “Thought you couldn’t drink.”

Steve jumped. He looked up abruptly and stared at her, eyes a little wide. “I, uh…” He looked down at the half-empty bottle. “It doesn’t affect me, not like it used to. But… I miss the taste sometimes. The atmosphere of a bar.”

She took a look around the empty common room. “Pretty empty bar you’ve got here.”

He huffed a humorless laugh. “Yeah.” His brows jumped and fell. “Might be a pity party.”

“Ah. Girl trouble or should I be expecting a draft letter any day now?”

Steve licked his lips and picked at the label on his bottle. “War I can handle. Might be the only thing I’m good for.”

Darcy frowned. “I doubt that.”

“You’d be surprised.” He half-smiled, but it was sardonic and tired. “How was your date?”

Darcy glanced away. She left her shoes on the counter as she walked to the fridge, pilfered a beer from a box marked ‘ _SAM’S— DON’T TOUCH_ ,’ and returned. Rather than dig out a bottle opener, she held it out to Steve, amused when a flick of his fingers popped the cap free easily. “It was good. His name’s Bryce.”

Steve nodded. “ _Bryce_ ,” he repeated.

“Hey, you think wearing Christmas socks in June is weird? Maybe it’s just a quirk. Like, after continued exposure you just sort of get used to it. We’ve all got our unique things, right? I used to wear beanies all the time. I knit them myself. Part of that was a very serious fashion choice. I definitely thought they looked good. Another part was because beanies were the only thing I could knit at the time. I’ve branched out since.”

Steve’s mouth quirked. “How Christmassy were they?”

“They were red with tiny green Christmas trees and a string of lights around the ankle.” She shrugged. “He also rolls up the cuff of his jeans and I’m fifty-fifty on if he’s doing it to show the socks off or he just likes a little breeze on his ankle.”

Snorting, Steve took a drag of his beer. “I’m trying to imagine you in a beanie and I can’t see it.”

Rolling her eyes, Darcy pulled out her phone and scrolled through her Facebook, finding her pictures. “Here.” She held the phone out for him to see. “Bask in all my beanie glory.”

He took the phone and stared down at the screen a long moment. With a flick of his thumb, he’d looked through a few other pictures too. “You used to wear glasses.”

“I still do sometimes. Mostly at home.”

He hummed before passing her phone back. On the screen was a picture from London, of her and Ian, smiling wide for the camera.

She stared at it a beat. “My last boyfriend. Back in London. Didn’t last much after this picture. Ended on a good note though. We were just headed in different directions.”

“And yours led to Bryce, huh?”

Darcy looked up and peered at him. He was staring down, his brow furrowed. “What about you? What’s your girl trouble?”

He clenched his teeth, a muscle in his cheek jumping. “Buck used to say I didn’t have any luck. When I was… _smaller_ , it was hard to get anybody to take a second glance at me. They were usually nice about it, but it wasn’t the best feeling in the world.”

Darcy leaned forward, resting her elbows on the island. “I’ve seen pictures of you back then.” She smiled. “We would’ve been about the same height.”

“Think I might’a had an inch or two on you. When you weren’t wearing heels, at least.”

She rolled her eyes. “Every inch counts, huh?”

His face warmed and he shook his head. “Couldn’t talk to women back then. Not sure I do a good job of it now either. But then, especially, I always seemed to say the wrong thing. I just… I never knew what was too much or too little. What I was allowed to ask or wasn’t.”

He spun his beer bottle around. “I liked Peggy from the moment I met her. She was… _strong_ and beautiful and absolutely fearless. And she talked to me, she _saw_ me, even when nobody else did. She understood what it was like to have the whole world look at you and just… _dismiss_ you. Like you had nothing to offer, no matter how hard you fought to be taken seriously.” He swallowed tightly. “I had it easier though. After the serum, after Azzano, they started to hear me when I talked. I was a man, I could command attention, and I did. On the battle field, in the strategy room. As a Captain, I knew exactly what I wanted to do and I could do it. But as Steve… as a man who wanted a woman… I fumbled it.”

Taking a deep breath, he let it out on a sigh. “And I’m still fumbling it. I wait too long, I second-guess myself, I’m not… I don’t make it clear what I want or what I’m looking for. I… I do _stupid_ things and they blow up in my face. And I deserve them, because I was the one who screwed it up before it ever started.” He laughed, short and stilted. “I just feel like I’m going to spend my life regretting too many of my choices.”

Darcy’s heart felt too big for her chest; it was squeezed, tight and uncomfortable. But she attempted a smile anyway. Taking a long guzzle of her beer, she wiped her mouth on her arm and dropped the bottle down to the counter with a clatter. “Okay. Unsolicited advice time. Women aren’t some puzzle that you have to figure out. Not everything has another meaning. And really, we’re just looking for someone to be genuine. Someone we like being around. That makes things fun and can laugh and who makes the time to be there. It isn’t always easy with a schedule like yours, but you text or you email, you just make sure they know they matter to you, that you’re thinking of them. Thor screwed up there, so that’s kind of a big one in your line of work. But in the beginning, it’s just about making a connection and working at it. You talk to them and you do what you can to get as much time as possible around them and you make it clear, even if it’s uncomfortable or embarrassing, that you want to be something more, something other than friends. Just assume everyone involved is as unsure as you are. If they’re not interested, you take the L gracefully and you respect their choices.”

“The L?”

“The loss.”

“Oh.” He nodded. “Okay.”

Darcy busied her mouth with her beer again, finishing off the last half before rolling the bottle between her palms.

“What if…” Steve paused. “What if you didn’t know that was what you wanted in the beginning, so you… You set things up for disaster before they could start.”

Darcy raised an eyebrow. What could he have possibly done that was bad enough Natasha Romanoff wouldn’t want to date him but not so bad that she hadn’t yet killed him? “That’s vague.”

He glanced at her, winced, and dropped his gaze again. “I was in a situation and I saw a way out of it. A way to… manipulate things to my comfort. But it ended up complicating things even more and now I… I don’t know how to tell her and I don’t know how to fix it.” He reached up and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “The thing is, I don’t… I think I already screwed it up too much to hope for a relationship. But I… If all I can have is friendship, then I want that. At least.”

Darcy stared at him a beat. “Talk to her. Apologize. Tell her it’s up to her what she wants. But be honest. She deserves that.” Taking her bottle to the recycling, she tossed it in, grabbed her heels off the counter, and then walked to the door.

“Darcy?”

She paused, her back to him.

“Thank you for… listening. I, uh… I missed this. A lot.”

Darcy closed her eyes a moment, inhaled, and let it out slowly. “Have a good night, Cap.”

Quickly, before he could answer, she left, and she didn’t look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for such a long wait. on the bright side, this is probably the longest chapter yet! i kept fleshing it out and it kept getting bigger and then editing it was a whole new level of energy i just didn't have. in any case, i hope it was worth the wait! :))
> 
> thank you all so much for your amazing comments and encouragement! i really appreciate all of your awesome feedback and support!


End file.
